NBC News

Tim Russert

WASHINGTON — Veteran NBC newsman Tim Russert died Friday of an apparent heart attack.

The host and managing editor of NBC's "Meet the Press" was 58.

Longtime NBC anchor Tom Brokaw went on the air with an emotional special report to confirm Russert's death. Brokaw said his colleague died at his desk in the network's Washington bureau.

"This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice," Brokaw said. "He will be missed as he was loved — greatly."

Brokaw said Russert had just returned from a vacation in Italy with his wife, writer Maureen Orth, and son Luke, who had recently graduated from Boston College.

Russert, of Buffalo, N.Y., took the helm of the Sunday news show in December 1991 and turned it into the most widely watched program of its type in the nation. His signature trait there was an unrelenting style of questioning, sparing none of the politicians, business giants and even sports figures who appeared on his show.

Russert was host of "Meet the Press" longer than any other person in the program's 61-year history on radio and television.

Washingtonian magazine once dubbed Russert the best journalist in town, and described "Meet the Press" as "the most interesting and important hour on television.

He also wrote best-selling books, "Big Russ and Me," in 2004, and "Wisdom of our Fathers," in 2006.

Russert also was a senior vice president at NBC.

Dallas Morning News columnist Carl P. Leubsdorf, president of the Gridiron Club, an organization of journalists, said in a statement, "It was a measure of the degree to which Tim Russert was respected in the journalistic world that he was the first broadcaster elected to membership in the Gridiron Club after the rules were changed in 2004 to end our century-old restriction to print journalists."

"He was an enthusiastic member and a willing participant in our shows. His fellow Gridiron members join with all of those who knew and respected Tim in mourning his untimely death."

"Tim will be sorely missed because his years as Senate staffer and probing TV journalist gave him special insights on political and governmental issues," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. "Had he chosen law as a career, his cross-examination would have made him a star in that field as well."