( CNN ) -- He had a distinguished voice like actor Robert Stack and the looks of a Hollywood actor . But it was his investigative and storytelling skills that set longtime CNN correspondent and bureau chief Robert Vito apart from the rest . Vito died Wednesday night at his son 's home in Singapore after a long battle with pancreatic cancer . Vito was a correspondent for CNN for 17 years . In that time , he served as the first CNN Detroit bureau chief and later was the network 's Rome bureau chief But he was better known for the stories he broke and covered . He won two Cable ACE Awards and several national and local Emmys . With CNN , he covered some of the biggest stories of the '80s and '90s , including the Branch-Davidian standoff in Waco , Texas ; the Oklahoma City bombing ; and the O.J . Simpson murder trial . Few knew it , but he was educated to be a teacher . He taught in a school in Illinois , but he wanted something different . He modeled in print ads and eventually landed a job as a radio reporter in Wisconsin . It was an act of fate and weather that brought Vito into the forefront of television news . In 1968 , he had just been hired at WAEO-TV ( now WJFW ) in Rhinelander , Wisconsin , as a general assignment reporter . But high winds knocked down the station 's transmission tower . It knocked the station off the air , and Vito out of a job . He took what little he had on a `` demo reel , '' some radio reports from a previous job , and photos from his days as a model , to Milwaukee , where WISN-TV hired him . Vito 's reports there led to construction of highway median barriers on Milwaukee County freeways , and a career in TV investigative journalism was launched . In 1973 , he went to work for Detroit 's WWJ-TV ( which later became WDIV ) . In July 1975 , Vito interviewed former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa . It was Hoffa 's last media interview , broadcast two weeks before his disappearance . In 1982 , Vito became the first Detroit bureau chief for CNN , just two years after the fledgling cable network 's launch . The auto industry was a major part of his beat , and his reporting on industrial pollution affecting fish and possibly giving them cancer prompted a congressional hearing , where he testified and his reports were shown . In 1988 he became CNN 's Rome bureau chief , followed by a move to CNN 's Los Angeles bureau the next year . From L.A. , he covered some of the top stories of the decade -- the Rodney King beating and the riots that followed , the Branch-Davidian standoff , the terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City , the O.J . Simpson criminal trial and the McMartin preschool case . From there he went on to CNN 's Miami Bureau , where he covered the trial of attorney F. Lee Bailey , the shooting down of civilian aircraft off the coast of Cuba , and the slaying of fashion designer Gianni Versace . Vito left CNN in 1999 and worked as a jury consultant for a Tampa , Florida , legal consulting firm . He later worked on documentaries before leaving the business to take care of his wife , Nancy , who succumbed to cancer a year ago . Last January , Independent News Service announced The Broadcast Industry recognition given to Vito for over 45 years of dedication to investigative journalism . He 's survived by his son John , John 's wife , Thanita , and his grandson , Anthony . People we lost in 2013 .
Vito was CNN 's first Detroit bureau chief , taking the job in 1982 . He left to become a correspondent for ABC News Vito died Wednesday night after a long battle with pancreatic cancer .