I didn't care for his nastiness towards interviewees, but this is just tragic.
You just don't know when things like this can happen.
Nobody knows yet what the cause of death was , though earlier reports said it was a heart attack.
(Edit: Later in the day Russert's doctor did say he did indeed die of a heart attack.)
Russert was married to writer Maureen Orth. Not surprisingly, he met her at the 1980 Democratic convention. They had one son.
His prosecutorial style came about naturally as Russert was trained as an attorney. He was a member of the bar in New York and D.C. Russert didn't bother becoming a lawyer but instead went into politics, working in the senate campaign of Daniel Patrick Moynihan and then working on Mario Cuomo's gubernatorial campaign. According to the Washington Post, Russert "served as chief of staff to Moynihan from 1977 to 1982 and was a counselor in Cuomo's Albany office from 1983 to 1984."
Although he was a Democratic operative originally, he didn't let that get in the way of naked ambition. He joined NBC in 1984.
Russert won many awards over the years:
Russert, who received 48 honorary doctorates, won countless other awards for excellence during his career, including the Edward R. Murrow Award from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, the . He was also the recipient of the John Peter Zenger Freedom of the Press Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, the Veterans of Foreign Wars News Media Award, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Journalism Award, the Allen H. Neuharth Award for Excellence in Journalism, the David Brinkley Award for Excellence in Communication and the Catholic Academy for Communication’s Gabriel Award. He was a member of the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame.
Even GE CEO Jack Welch was almost in tears talking about him. Although Russert could be a shit on camera, apparently he was a good guy off camera. Everybody liked him.
Russert was a native of Buffalo, New York.
Live video is here.
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