People Remembered: Tim Russert

Tim Russert spent his 24 years in television in Washington, but Rome and two Popes marked the beginning and end of his broadcasting career.

After joining NBC News in Washington in 1984, one of his first “gets” was to arrange Pope John Paul II’s first interview on American television, broadcast from Rome on the “Today” show. This June, Tim, a life-long Catholic, took his wife of 25 years, Maureen Orth, a Vanity Fair special correspondent, and their son Luke, named for Saint Luke, to Rome to celebrate Luke’s graduation from Boston College.

In the Eternal City, they attended Pope Benedict XVI’s weekly public audience. Russert then returned to Washington while his wife and son remained in Italy. A couple of days later, Friday afternoon, June 13, while preparing voice-overs for his Sunday show, Timothy John Russert Jr., moderator of “Meet the Press” since 1991, collapsed in his office, never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead a short time later of a coronary artery ailment. He was 58.