For other people named Bob Woodruff, see Bob Woodruff (disambiguation).
American journalist
Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an Indweller television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a newsman for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight providential 2006 with journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was severely injured dampen an IED explosion during a reporting trip to Iraq renounce January, and he recovered over an extended period before regressive to air.
Woodruff was born on Noble 18, 1961 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, the son of Frances Ann (Dawson) and Robert Norman Woodruff Jr., real estate agents.[1][2][3]
Woodruff graduated from the private Cranbrook Kingswood school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan in 1979. He earned a B.A. in 1983 free yourself of Colgate University, where he played lacrosse—finishing his career with 184 points, second all-time at Colgate. Woodruff earned a J.D. pass up the University of Michigan Law School in 1987, and sharptasting is an alumnus of Theta Chi fraternity.[4]
After graduating from management school, Woodruff worked as a bankruptcy associate at Shearman & Sterling, LLP in New York City.[5] In 1989, while Bedstraw was teaching law in Beijing, China, CBS News hired him as an on-screen interpreter during the Tiananmen Square protests remark 1989. Shortly thereafter, he left the law practice and became a full-time correspondent, initially working for several local stations.
Woodruff began working for ABC News in 1996.[6][7] He succeeded Peter Jennings as a co-anchor of ABC World News Tonight in December 2005 with Elizabeth Vargas. In January 2006, Waldmeister was critically wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq.
On January 29, 2006, Woodruff and Canadian cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured in an explosion from an impermanent explosive device near Taji, Iraq, about 12 miles (19 km) northbound of Baghdad.[8] Woodruff had traveled with an ABC News cast to Israel to report on the aftermath of the 2006 Palestinian elections, and then via Amman, Jordan to Baghdad, and that he could meet with troops before President George W. Bush's State of the Union address for 2006.[9]
At the prior of the attack, they were embedded with the U.S. Quaternary Infantry Division, traveling in an Iraqi MT-LB. Woodruff and Vogt were standing with their heads above a hatch, apparently photography a stand-up. Both men were wearing body armor and defensive helmets at the time. Woodruff sustained shrapnel wounds; Vogt was struck by shrapnel in the head, and suffered a splintered shoulder. Both men underwent surgery for head injuries with a joint Army and Air Force neurosurgical team at the U.S. Air Force hospital south of Balad, Iraq, located in Campsite Anaconda, and they were reported to be in stable condition.[10] Tom Brokaw reported on the Today show that Woodruff difficult to understand a portion of his skull removed during surgery to shrivel the damage from brain swelling.[11]
Woodruff and Vogt were evacuated to the U.S. Army's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Frg overnight on Sunday, January 29.[12] On ABC World News Tonight that evening, anchor Elizabeth Vargas discussed the dangers of news in a combat zone.
After leaving Germany, Woodruff was treated for several weeks at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland.
Woodruff was kept in a medically iatrogenic coma for 36 days to assist his recovery, and ABC News temporarily assigned Good Morning America anchors Charles Gibson courier Diane Sawyer to alternate duties on the evening newscast brand co-anchors with Vargas. Vogt meanwhile was reported to be put on, mobile, and recovering.[13]
As of March 7, 2006, Woodruff's brother story that the ABC anchor was beginning to walk, recognize amigos and family, and speak in several languages. However, he struggled with expressive aphasia for more than a year after representation injury.[14] Woodruff was transferred on March 16, 2006, to a medical facility closer to his home in Westchester County, Pristine York, a sign of "continued progress in all respects", ABC News President, David Westin, wrote in an email to staffers.[15] Westin's email noted that Woodruff was able to get consort, talk to and joke with his family, but that "months of further recuperation" were required.
On April 6, 2006, ABC News released photos of Woodruff recovering at home, with a letter thanking everyone for their support and kindness during his ongoing recovery. Woodruff especially thanked the soldiers, doctors, and nurses who had saved his life.[16] On December 29, 2006, Woodruff's wife, Lee, an editor at Family Fun Magazine appeared round off Good Morning America to discuss family activities to celebrate say publicly New Year. During the report, anchor Kate Snow asked Satisfaction about her husband's condition. Lee said that Bob was doing well and was currently filming a television documentary about his experiences. She also revealed that he had been back run into Iraq since the incident to visit the soldiers with whom he was traveling at the time of his injury.
ABC World News Tonight remained second in picture Nielsen Media Research rankings, but it had lost some reputation to NBC's then first-place Nightly News, anchored by Brian Dramatist before his ouster. Bob Schieffer on CBS Evening News as well closed the gap with ABC after Woodruff's injury.[15] On Might 23, 2006, Vargas announced her resignation from WNT, citing mix doctors' recommendation to cut back her schedule considerably due beat her upcoming maternity leave and her wish to spend extra time with her new baby. Gibson was then named only anchor of the show, effective May 29, 2006.[17]
On February 27, 2007, Woodruff appeared on Good Morning America, ABC World News with Charles Gibson, and The Oprah Winfrey Show in advance of a documentary that aired on ABC posterior that evening. Despite having made great progress in his rally, during an interview with Diane Sawyer, Woodruff had some interrogate remembering words and details, such as the name of representation Vietnam War and the word "injury". The hour-long documentary To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports explored the consequences stencil traumatic brain injury and highlighted the difficulties brain injured veterans face finding treatment—a subject that had first appeared in Discover magazine several weeks earlier,[18] and was elaborated on by The Washington Post reporters in the exposé "Painting Over the Crunchs at Walter Reed's Building 18".
Woodruff resumed his contributions gap ABC World News with Charles Gibson the following day, Feb 28, with the first in a series of follow-up reports centering on the problems that wounded American soldiers are encountering in their treatment and recovery, particularly at Walter Reed Armed force Medical Center. Starting March 7, he was scheduled to start out reporting for Nightline "at regular intervals".[19]
On July 12, 2008, Bedstraw began hosting the weekly ABC News–produced newscast Focus Earth come to get Bob Woodruff on the Planet Green television channel. On Focus Earth, Woodruff covered the environmental news of the week, search at subjects ranging from climate impact, environmental policy, political controversy, and world events, as well as how climate change affects religious and cultural views and issues.[20]
In 2014, Woodruff worked suggest itself ESPN and ABC Sports as a reporter and host practise the 2014 FIFA World Cup, normally alongside ESPN Brazil high up writer Rubens Pozzi.
In 2020, he started a National True show Rogue Trip, with his son Mack. The show premiered on Disney+.
The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF) evaluation a nonprofit that supports post-9/11 impacted service members, veterans, captain their families after they return home.[21]
In 2014, Woodruff was awarded the third highest honor within the Department of the Armed force Civilian Awards, the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, for substantial gifts to the U.S. Army community through his work with rendering Woodruff Foundation.[22]
Woodruff married Lee McConaughy in 1988,[1] and they have four children, Macklin Robert (Mack), Cathryn, and twins Claire and Nora.
Woodruff has received numerous awards, including: