Who was Drew Griffin? CNN investigative journalist dies aged 60

Drew Griffin, CNN’s award-winning Senior Investigative Correspondent, died Saturday, December 19, after a long battle with cancer, his family said. He was 60. CNN described Griffin as “a gifted storyteller” with “a well-earned reputation for holding powerful people and institutions accountable.”

“Drew’s death is a devastating loss to CNN and our entire profession. A highly acclaimed investigative journalist, Drew’s work had an incredible impact and embodied the mission of this organization in every way,” CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a note to staff.

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Who was Drew Griffin?

Drew Griffin was a correspondent for CNN’s investigative unit based in Atlanta, Georgia. He was born in 1962. 

He is survived by his wife Margot, his three children, Ele Gast, Louis, and Miles Griffin, and two grandchildren.

Griffin worked as an investigative reporter for CBS 2 News in Los Angeles for 10 years. He joined CNN in May 2004.

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He completed his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Griffin’s investigative work includes stories on sexual assault allegations on Uber drivers, fraudulent practices in California’s state drug rehab program, fraud claims against Trump University, and more. He has received several accolades for his journalism, including Emmys, Peabodys, and Edward R Murrows.

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Griffin covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. His expertise included politics, sports, corporate, and government investigations. In 2005, he won a business and financial reporting Emmy Award for his reports on a fault in Ford Motor Company cars that caused them to catch fire. He won his second Emmy in 2005 for the documentary How to Rob a Bank. In 2007, he was awarded an Emmy for Hidden Spendings, in Anderson Cooper 360° segment.

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Graffin received a Peabody award in 2015 for Crisis at the VA, a story that broke the scandals of hidden wait times and deaths at VA hospitals across the country. In 2017, his fourth Emmy was awarded for Trump University Fraud, about fraudulent practices behind Donald Trump’s real estate school.