I was debating whether or not to write about Tim Russert’s passing sine this is a celebrity website. But I think most anyone on television could be called a celebrity to some, and as the election gets closer and closer, political journalists get more and more face time. Sadly for the first time in what feels like forever, Meet the Press host Tim Russert won’t be grilling politicians this election. Russert passed away suddenly on Friday, after collapsing at work.

Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after suffering a heart attack at the bureau. He was 58. Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” broadcast when he collapsed. He was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

Russert’s physician, Michael Newman, said cholesterol plaque ruptured in an artery, causing sudden coronary thrombosis. Russert had earlier been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, but it was well-controlled with medication and exercise, and he had performed well on a stress test in late April, Newman said. An autopsy revealed that he also had an enlarged heart, Newman said.

Russert’s death left his colleagues devastated. 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.”

“Meet the Press,” which he began hosting in 1991, was considered an essential proving ground in the career of any national politician. “If you could pass the Tim Russert test, you could do something in this field,” said Howard Fineman, senior Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine and a columnist for msnbc.com.

[From MSNBC]

Russert had just returned from a trip to Italy the day before his collapse. He and his wife Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair, had taken their son Luke there to celebrate his graduation from Boston College. Maureen and Luke were still in Italy when they received the news of Russert’s passing.

Russert wasn’t just the best interviewer around – he was also a phenomenal writer. His book, Big Russ and Me: Father and Son: Lessons of Life was a tribute to the amazing life lessons he learned from his father “Big Russ” a sanitation worker who held down two jobs to support his wife and four kids. He noted that his father grew up in the depression, and considered himself lucky to have two jobs.

When I was in high school, the two of us were in the basement one day when Dad walked over to his desk, opened a drawer and took out a manila folder. He handed me a yellowed clipping from the October 27, 1944 edition of the Southport Weekly, an English newspaper. The headline read: US BOMBER CRASHES IN FLAMES IN AINSDALE, and the article described the crash of a B-24 Liberator at an Air Force Base in England. I read it quickly and zeroed in on the key lines: “When the plane crashed it broke up, and some of the airmen were thrown clear.” Dad, I realized, had been one of them.

“This is amazing”, I said.

He looked at me and said, “It was a lot tougher for the guys who died.” Then he took back the clipping and put it away without another word. The conversation was over.

[From People]

Russert got his strong work ethic from his father, who never took a single sick day from his sanitation job. In his book he told a story of taking his son Luke to a baseball game to watch Cal Ripken, Jr break a record that most people didn’t pay a lot of attention to.

On September 7, 1995, I took Luke, who was ten, to a baseball game at Camden Yards in Baltimore. [That was the night] Cal Ripken, Jr. was going to break Lou Gehrig’s Iron Man record just by showing up and playing in his 2,131st consecutive game. This wasn’t about something glitzy, like home runs … I explained to my son that Cal Ripken’s record was different from all the other records because this one was about loyalty, dedication, discipline, diligence and persistence.

I told Luke that night, and I meant it with all my heart, that Cal Ripken had done for baseball what my Dad had done for our family.

[From People]

This feels a little corny to say, but Tim Russert really was a hero of mine. He was one of those people you could just tell was good and upright. About six months ago I heard him interviewed by the local NPR affiliate when I was in Seattle. He was there for a book signing, and just listening to Tim Russert talk about his family brought tears to my eyes. There was such a deep love in his voice – a kind I’m not sure I’d ever heard before. It was truly, truly beautiful.

We wish his family peace during this time.