Former Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in hospice care: wife

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee, who oversaw the newspaper's coverage of the Watergate scandal in the 1970s, is in hospice care, his wife said. Bradlee, 93, is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and sleeps much of the day, Sally Quinn told C-Span in an interview aired late on Sunday. "He does know who I am, yes. We actually called in hospice care this week," said Quinn, a religion columnist for the Post. Hospice care provides specialized medical treatment for terminally or seriously ill patients. Bradlee was one of the most important figures in Washington as executive editor of the Post from 1968 to 1991. The Post won 23 Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure as he transformed it from a staid newspaper into one of the most dynamic publications in the United States. Bradlee is best known for overseeing the Post's investigation into the 1972 burglary of the Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate apartment complex. The scandal led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. The investigation by Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward was made into a 1976 movie, "All the President's Men," with the actor Jason Robards playing Bradlee. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Doina Chiacu)