The Associated Press has just reported the death of journalist and author David Halberstam in a car crash in San Mateo County. Halberstam, 73, was one of the finest investigative reporters to ever work in American journalism, and a personal favorite of mine.

He began his career covering the Civil Rights movement in the late '50s, and reported from Vietnam in the 1960s. He won a Pulitzer Prize for that reporting in 1964.

My favorites among his books include: "The Powers That Be," about the history and dynamics of media giants -- Time magazine, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and CBS. He also wrote compellingly about baseball, in "The Summer of '49," and "October 1964." One of his most recent efforts was "Firehouse," in which he documented the lives of a group of New York City firefighters, almost all of whom perished on Sept. 11.

He'll be missed.