Tim Russert's death today of an apparent heart attack is shaking Washington, New York and press people everywhere, not to mention the millions of viewers who loved him for his fair but tough approach to his interviews.
I interviewed Russert some years ago because my readers, his fans, wanted to know more about how he prepared for those Sunday morning politicos he hosted on Meet The Press. Tim told me that he always did his own homework - reading six newspapers, endless magazines and books - and wrote his own queries, but the secret to his style was that he talked to "real" people, chief among them his dad "Big Russ", a retired truck driver.
Family was important to Tim, who, with son Luke, appeared one year on our "Family Spirit" issue cover (left). Big Russ, about whom Tim wrote a whole book, Tim's wife, the Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, and Luke, a recent Boston College grad, as well as all those "real" people who had their coffee with him on Sunday mornings as they watched Meet The Press, will be in mourning for months to come.