Irving R. Levine Signs Off

Irving R. Levine, NBC's longtime economics correspondent, died Thursday at the age of 86. He was on the air from 1950 until 1995. Levine was known for his distinctive collection of bow ties, which he became his signature.

Levine also had a significant career beyond his economic reporting. He was the first American television correspondent allowed to live in, and broadcast from, the Soviet Union during the Cold War era. He also covered the building of the Berlin Wall, the 1960 uprising in what was then the Belgian Congo and the travels of Pope Paul VI to the United Nations, India and the Holy Land, among the first international journeys by a pontiff.

Interestingly, Levine began his journalism career as an obituary writer and reporter for the Providence Journal.