Tim Russert dies of heart attack

[U2democrat]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

i saw Alison Krauss and Robert Plant last night. they dedicated the last song of the evening -- "Your Long Journey" -- to Russert.

very powerful.

Wow. That's absolutely amazing. I bet there wasn't a dry eye in the house...when they sing that song it's already breathtaking but under those circumstances, I couldn't imagine the emotion.

[deep]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

i saw Alison Krauss and Robert Plant last night. they dedicated the last song of the evening -- "Your Long Journey" -- to Russert.

very powerful.

I have heard good reviews about this tour

this best way to celebrate those who are no longer with us

is to embrace the good things in life that are available to us

[Jeannieco]

Originally Posted by U2democrat

Would you mind being a bit more respectful as many of us here are mourning him?

Right on, thank you for saying that.

I also caught Campbell Brown on CNN, whom I can't stand, but I witnessed the human side of her last night when she said that Tim gave her every break in the book. He would give her stories and let her take the all credit time and time again....she broke down at the end...she was in tears and really shaken.
Plus, the flack he took for being too hard on Hillary was a joke. He was tough on EVERYONE, everyone, but somehow he is a sexist for treating her equally? OMG. I am so sick of this garbage.....thank God we don't have to listen to her anymore.

Sorry for the rant, but I felt a real connection to him. (we shared same roots, Irish Catholic working class background...)
Tomorrow morning will not be the same.

[AngelofHarlem01]

Great tribute from Politico up on Yahoo at the moment: Remembering the kid from Buffalo

[financeguy]

Originally Posted by deep

approx. 202924 people will die today

And some of them won't be Iraq war shills.

No tears from me for corporate media Iraq war shills.

[MrsSpringsteen]

I saw him a few years back outside a Bruce Springsteen concert with his son. He was all about being a good father, apparently. He was a Bruce fan too.

BRUCE OFFERS TRIBUTE TO TIM RUSSERT IN CARDIFF

From the stage at Cardiff Millennium Dome Stadium: Saturday June 14.

Introduction before "Thunder Road"

"I'd like to do this tonight for a long time friend of the E Street Band who passed away suddenly.

"Tim Russert was an important unreplacable voice in American journalism. I watched him hold our politicians feet to the fire on many Sunday mornings. He was always a strong voice for honesty and accountability in American government .. but beyond that he was a lovely presence, a good father, husband, and good guy. He was a regular at many E Street Band shows and I'm going to miss looking down and seeing that big smiling face in the crowd.

"We send this out all the way back to the states tonight for his son Luke, his wife Maureen, his dad Big Russ , and all the Russert family.

"Tim , God Bless You, We will miss you..."

I had so much respect for him and always tuned in to Meet The Press to see what he would come up with. Now he's gone and that show will never be the same. RIP Tim.

people.com

Newsman Tim Russert was plain-spoken and always determined to get to the truth – qualities, he often said, he inherited from his father, a Buffalo sanitation worker affectionately known as Big Russ.

In 2004, Russert, the longtime host of NBC's Meet the Press, wrote the bestselling book Big Russ & Me, about the life lessons he learned from his dad, and how he passed those lessons on to his own son, Luke.

The journalist, who died from a heart attack at the age of 58, two days before Father's Day, shared these poignant family stories in Big Russ & Me, and a follow-up book, Wisdom of Our Fathers:

All through my childhood, and well beyond it, my father held down two demanding jobs. But as hard as he labored and as long as he toiled, we never heard a single complaint about his heavy workload or the sacrifice he was making. He didn’t talk about it, he just got it done. And if he had to take a third job to support his wife and four kids, he would have done that, too ... like so many members of the strong, silent generation who grew up during the Great Depression and went off to war, he had learned long ago that life was hard and nothing was handed to you. In fact, Dad considered it a sign of success, and even a blessing, that he was able to hold down two jobs. He could remember a time when a man considered himself fortunate to have even one.

Russert's father, a war hero who rarely talked about his experiences during World War II, agreed to share one battle story with his son:

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.


Russert's father never took a single sick day from his main job as a foreman for the sanitation department. Russert tried to pass that work ethic onto his own son, Luke:

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.

In Wisdom of Our Fathers, Russert wrote about his father's reaction to Big Russ & Me:

I always go to [my father's home] for Thanksgiving, and in 2004, a few months after the book came out, we were loading up the car to drive to the airport when Big Russ came over to me to say goodbye. For as long as I can remember, Dad and I had always parted with a handshake and a half hug. But this time he gave me a huge bear hug and he said softly, "I love you" – something I had never heard him say before. I was fifty four years old, and all I could think was, Boy, I wish I had written this book thirty years earlier.

[Jeannieco]

Originally Posted by MrsSpringsteen

I saw him a few years back outside a Bruce Springsteen concert with his son. He was all about being a good father, apparently. He was a Bruce fan too.

BRUCE OFFERS TRIBUTE TO TIM RUSSERT IN CARDIFF

From the stage at Cardiff Millennium Dome Stadium: Saturday June 14.

Introduction before "Thunder Road"

"I'd like to do this tonight for a long time friend of the E Street Band who passed away suddenly.

"Tim Russert was an important unreplacable voice in American journalism. I watched him hold our politicians feet to the fire on many Sunday mornings. He was always a strong voice for honesty and accountability in American government .. but beyond that he was a lovely presence, a good father, husband, and good guy. He was a regular at many E Street Band shows and I'm going to miss looking down and seeing that big smiling face in the crowd.

"We send this out all the way back to the states tonight for his son Luke, his wife Maureen, his dad Big Russ , and all the Russert family.

"Tim , God Bless You, We will miss you..."


I always go to [my father's home] for Thanksgiving, and in 2004, a few months after the book came out, we were loading up the car to drive to the airport when Big Russ came over to me to say goodbye. For as long as I can remember, Dad and I had always parted with a handshake and a half hug. But this time he gave me a huge bear hug and he said softly, "I love you" – something I had never heard him say before. I was fifty four years old, and all I could think was, Boy, I wish I had written this book thirty years earlier.

Ok, kleenex....so touching......

[BoMac]

I watched Meet The Press this morning. It was very touching and sad. R.I.P. Tim.

[WildHoneyAlways]

Very moving Meet the Press this morning. A fitting tribute. Brokaw had me tearing up.

[deep]

[U2democrat]

It's obvious he was a wonderful and decent human being. It's unfortunate to see such a good soul leave this world.

[U2democrat]

From the NY Times:

A public wake for Mr. Russert will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Albans School in Washington, with a private funeral mass and burial on Wednesday. A private memorial service, to be televised live on MSNBC, will be held Wednesday afternoon at the Kennedy Center.

[shari schultz]

Originally Posted by U2democrat

As a sidenote, I went to Borders today and both his books were sold out, and on Amazon.com they're at #1 and #2.

itunes has Big Russ & Me available to purchase as an audiobook. Tim does the reading (I bought it and am enjoying hearing Tim tell the tale)
itunes also has Meet The Press from this morning available as a podcast download (free).

[Jeannieco]

^thanks guys for all the info....
I still can't get over this..

[U2democrat]

I subscribe to both NBC Nightly News and the MTP Podcasts...iTunes automatically downloads them for me free after each airing

It won't be the same without him.

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'd like to get his books too, I figured they'd be sold out everywhere. I saw that Meet The Press tribute show, it was great.

Luke Russert was on the Today Show

MSNBC - The Today Show - Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, Ann Curry, Al Roker, Natalie Morales - News, Celebrities, Recipes, Video, Tips and Advice, Entertainment and Live Concerts -- MSNBC.com Front Page

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I don't know about others, but to me this has the impact of a Steve Irwin type thing. I know many people here felt deeply shaken when he died, but I personally never felt that way. But this feels like a death in the family.

I fell asleep last night watching an episode of Larry King where he was being interviewed, and still can't believe he's going to miss the ending of this year's election. So incredibly sad.

[U2democrat]

Originally Posted by LarryMullen's POPAngel

I don't know about others, but to me this has the impact of a Steve Irwin type thing.

I've been feeling the exact same way for several reasons:

They were both SO full of life, and it's hard to imagine someone with such zeal for life gone.

They both died doing what they loved.

They both had an authenticity that made them really connect with their audience through the television.

They were both like our favorite teachers...excited about the subject and that excitement would rub off on us the students.

With their sudden loss there has been a void that may never be filled.

[Irvine511]

Originally Posted by U2democrat

They were both like our favorite teachers...excited about the subject and that excitement would rub off on us the students.

i think this gets at why his death -- as opposed to, say, Peter Jennings -- seems to sting a little bit more and have more resonant.

[MrsSpringsteen]

The person described as the "light of Tim Russert's life," his son Luke, said he and his mother are "hanging' in there, [we] take it day by day" after the shocking, sudden death of his father, NBC newsman Tim Russert, on Friday. "We're holding up as best as can be."

Speaking at the top of Monday morning's Today show, the recent Boston College grad expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support he and his mother, print journalist Maureen Orth, have received, and said that planning for his father's funeral is helping to keep their minds off their sadness.

"She grieves like a wife, and I grieve like a son, so we're mourning differently," he said, also stressing that the family's Catholicism is strong source of support.

In a statement detailing autopsy results, Russert's physician Dr. Michael Newman said that the Meet the Press host "was known to have asymptomatic coronary artery disease [atherosclerosis], which resulted in hardening of his coronary arteries.

"His family was the most important thing in the world," his sister Kathy Russert-Hughes, 52, told PEOPLE. "And he always had time for family."

She added about her brother's relationship with his son: "Tim was a great dad, they were the closest a father could be to a son, a bond as strong as I've ever seen. The love was unimaginable from the day he was born."

Big Russ's Reaction

On Today, Luke also discussed his grandfather, retired Buffalo (N.Y.) sanitation worker Tim Russert Sr., known affectionately as "Big Russ" and the subject of Tim Russert's 2004 bestseller, Big Russ & Me.

Big Russ reportedly has not been himself and was recently placed in a care facility. Even so, said Luke, "I spoke to him yesterday, and I think he realized what happened."

Big Russ would say, Luke recalled, that in the family dynamic, Tim was "like the pitcher," Luke was "like the catcher" and Big Russ was "like the umpire." And now they've lost their pitcher.

Mom's Influence

Luke also paid tribute to his mother, who writes for Vanity Fair, describing her as "tough" and pointing out that when his parents were dating (the couple wed in 1983, and Luke was born three years later), Orth had a powerful byline as a cultural reporter for Newsweek, which made her more influential back then than Russert, whose career was just beginning to break.

Among those Orth covered for the newsweekly was Bruce Springsteen, who sent a memorial message to Today about Russert's passing.

A Forgiving Father

As described by Luke, Tim Russert came across as a concerned, loving and forgiving parent – even in the matter of Luke's secretly getting a tattoo during his senior year of high school, in November '03. The younger Russert was permanently marked with "TJR" – not only his own initials, but also that of his father and grandfather.

"This way," he explained, "I always have them at my side."

Tim Russert happened to catch his first glimpse of the skin decoration when Luke was trying on a shirt on Christmas morning. Though Tim's initial reaction was, "He did what?", ultimately he came to accept what his son had done.

Advised Luke: "If you have a tattoo, show it to your parents on Christmas.