NBC News: Tim Russert dead at 58
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Today, we lost a well-known journalist who want people to know what’s happening in politics, Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press; has died at the age 58. Russert suffered a major heart attack while preparing his show at the NBC News Bureau in Washington D.C. Russert had just came back early from his family’s vacation to Italy so he can do this Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press.
The New York Times report that at 3:39pm, former NBC Nightly News Anchor Tom Brokaw announced to NBC News viewers that his colleague has died.
“Our beloved colleague,” a grave Mr. Brokaw called him, one of the premier journalists of our time. He said this was one of the most important years in his life, with his deep engagement in the network’s political coverage, and that he “worked to the point of exhaustion.” Mr. Brokaw said Mr. Russert was a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots and “the ethos of that community.”
He said Mr. Russert had just moved his father, who is in his late 80s, from one facility to another in Buffalo. He said he loved his family, his Catholic faith, his country, politics, the Buffalo Bills, the New York Yankees and the Washington Nationals.
“This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice,” Mr. Brokaw said.
Russert, the longest running moderator for Meet the Press, has been with the show since 1991. Since then, he has formed of what is today known as Sunday morning government affairs program
As his death happens days before Fathers Day, he had written two books about his father and became a best-seller. In 1995, the National Father’s Day Committee named him “Father of the Year,” and Parents magazine honored him as “Dream Dad” in 1998, and in 2001 the National Fatherhood Initiative also recognized him as Father of the Year.
NBC News has planned to air a tribute to Russert on “Dateline NBC” on Friday at 10 p.m. ET.
