Veteran reporter Rick Sallinger dies

Veteran CBS News Colorado reporter Rick Sallinger died on Wednesday night in the Denver area. His death was due to natural causes. He was 74.

Sallinger started reporting at CBS News Colorado in 1993. In the decades after that he covered events including the Columbine High School shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing trials, the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, the Kobe Bryant case, catastrophic wildfires and the Aurora Theater massacre. In 2022 he interviewed would-be presidential assailant John Hinckley Jr.

Sallinger's stories appeared numerous times on the CBS Evening News, CBS This Morning, The CBS Early Show, CBS Sunday Morning and CBS Weekend News.

His investigative reporting received numerous commendations, including the George Foster Peabody Award, considered one of broadcasting's highest honors. In 2023, the Heartland Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences inducted Sallinger into the "Silver Circle," a recognition of more than 25 years of journalism service.

Sallinger was a loving father to his two sons, Marc and Eric. He was married to his wife Isabel for 30 years.

Sallinger was a native of Chicago and earned his bachelors and masters degrees at the University of Illinois. In 2022 he was inducted into the University of Illinois Illini Media Hall of Fame.

Sallinger's career included radio reporting in Cleveland and Chicago. He has been a television news reporter in Indianapolis (WRTV), Denver (KUSA/KCNC), Chicago (WMAQ) and London (CNN).

In 1990, Sallinger signed on to become a correspondent for CNN's London bureau. The very next day, Iraq invaded Kuwait, and within the next three years, he made five trips to Iraq, five to Jordan and one to Kuwait, and spent two and a half months, including the entire first Gulf War, in Saudi Arabia. During his years with CNN, he covered the reunification of Germany, the war in Yugoslavia and other major events in Moscow, Somalia, Northern Ireland, Paris, Geneva, Spain and Denmark.

When Sallinger left Denver in 1986 to pursue his career goals, The Denver Post wrote that his ambition was to one day return. He said he achieved that after returning to report in the Denver area.

Sallinger was proud to call Colorado his home and will be missed greatly not only by all of his coworkers but by all who watched his award-winning reporting throughout the years.