Thanks, Andy Rooney

Curmudgeons are honest. They tell you what is on their mind, whether you mind hearing it or not.

Pulling no punches, refusing to hold back on stating the obvious, they tell it like it is.

That was Andy Rooney, the "last-word" correspondent on "60 Minutes", who gave his last word as a regular for the news magazine on October 2, 2011.

Whether he was dishing on dishes, dashing hopes on dashes, or signing off on signatures, he knew how to ferret out the inscrutable in the obvious.

Bushy eyebrows hovering over his all-penetrating eyes, Rooney scanned the near-missed of daily like to make a weekly hit with the general public. He delighted in writing, writing what he was thinking, writing what we were all thinking. Thus he characterized his calling. I sure would like to do what he does for a living.

Mr. Rooney, we will miss your comments, however gravely and worn. Whether putting out what you would hate to put up with for dinner, or who you would like to see or not see at your dinner table, we were glad to know that someone out there was not afraid to tell us what was on his mind.