Tim Russert, NBC News' host of "Meet the Press,"
has died at the age of 58.Tim Russert, a fixture in American homes on Sunday mornings and election nights since becoming moderator of Meet the Press nearly 17 years ago, died Friday (13/06/08) after collapsing at the Washington bureau of NBC News. He was 58. With his plain-spoken explanations and hard-hitting questions, Russert played an increasingly outsize role in the media's coverage of politics.
The elegantly simple white memo board he used on election night in 2000 to explain the deadlock in the race between George W. Bush and Al Gore — "Florida, Florida, Florida," he had scribbled, in red marker — became one of the most iconic images in the history of American television coverage of the road to the White House. He was
“one of the premier political journalists and analysts of his time,” Tom Brokaw, the former longtime anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” said in announcing Russert’s death Friday afternoon. Brian Williams, managing editor and anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” called his death a
“staggering, overpowering and sudden loss.” "He really was the best political journalist in America, not just the best television journalist in America," said Al Hunt, the Washington executive editor of Bloomberg News and the former Washington bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal.
President George W Bush issued a statement:
"Laura and I are deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Tim Russert. Those of us who knew and worked with Tim, his many friends, and the millions of Americans who loyally followed his career on the air will all miss him.
As the longest-serving host of the longest-running program in the history of television, he was an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades. Tim was a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it.
Most important, Tim was a proud son and father, and Laura and I offer our deepest sympathies to his wife Maureen, his son Luke, and the entire Russert family. We will keep them in our prayers."When stricken, Russert had been recording voice-overs for this Sunday's program. Russert, who was the Washington bureau chief of NBC News and a senior vice president, had recently returned from a trip to Italy to celebrate the recent graduation of his son, Luke, from Boston College. In addition to his son, Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine, and his father, Tim Russert. The elder Russert is the subject of his son's best-selling book, Big Russ & Me, which also spawned a sequel of sorts, a collection of letters people wrote to Russert about their fathers. He is also survived by three sisters.
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