Edward P. Morgan; Radio, TV Reporter and Commentator

Edward P. Morgan, a broadcast journalist and writer who reported for ABC, CBS and public television, has died at age 82.

Morgan died Wednesday of cancer at his home in McLean, Va.

From 1955 to 1967, Morgan broadcast an evening radio program of news and commentary, “Edward P. Morgan and the News,” which won him the George Foster Peabody award, broadcasting’s top honor, in 1956.

Also in 1956, Morgan broadcast a memorable account of the collision of the ocean liners Andrea Doria and Stockholm off the Massachusetts coast, not telling listeners that his 14-year-old daughter had been aboard the Andrea Doria and was believed to have been killed.

The girl was found alive the next day, having been catapulted to a deck of the Stockholm when its bow knifed into her cabin.

“Within the space of 24 hours, this reporter has been pushed down the elevator shaft to the subbasement of despair and raised again to the heights of incredible joy,” he told listeners.

A native of Walla Walla, Wash., Morgan began his news career at the Seattle Star in 1932. He worked in print journalism for two decades--for United Press, the Chicago Daily News and Collier’s magazine--before joining CBS as a radio and TV reporter.

CBS named him director of radio and television news in 1954 and he joined ABC as a commentator the next year.

Survivors include his daughter and two stepdaughters.