American journalist Bernard Shaw has died at the age of 82. He was one of the most famous faces on CNN for over twenty years. Shaw gained international fame during the first Gulf War in 1991, when he worked as a reporter in Baghdad.

Shaw explains how CNN was able to cover so widely in the first few hours:

Bernie was CNN original “He remained the station’s leading face over the next two decades, from the presidential election to its famous coverage of the Gulf War,” our host in Washington when our station launched in 1980, a CNN executive wrote in a statement.

Shaw was living in central Baghdad when the US-British raids on the Iraqi capital began. “The sky over Baghdad is lit. This is lightning, this is death, this is hell,” he told millions of viewers of the international news channel. He decided to stay in Iraq despite the danger of war.

Shaw was one of the first colorists on a news program in the United States. Prior to joining CNN, he worked in the Navy and as a reporter for CBS and ABC.

Shaw retired in 2001, but according to CNN, he has always remained involved with the news station. For example, he regularly appeared as a translator of historical events. Shaw died from the effects of pneumonia, CNN reports based on his family.