Tim Russert, 1950-2008

"Meet the Press" moderator and NBC News Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert poses for photographers in New York, Oct. 23, 2006. Russert, a political lifer who made a TV career of his passion with unrelenting questioning of the powerful and influential, died of a heart attack Friday, June 13, 2008 in the midst of a presidential campaign he'd covered with trademark intensity. He was 58.

NBC's Tim Russert speaks to the crowd during a debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., Feb. 26, 2008, in Cleveland. In addition to his weekly program, Russert made periodic appearances on the network's other news shows, was moderator for numerous political debates and wrote two best-selling books.

NBC News' Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert delivers an address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., June 8, 2005. Russert, of Buffalo, N.Y., took the helm of "Meet the Press" in December 1991 and turned it into the nation's most widely watched program of its type.

NBC television journalist Tim Russert moderates the Democratic Presidential Candidates from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 26, 2008. His signature trait on "Meet the Press" was an unrelenting style of questioning that made some politicians reluctant to appear, yet confident that they could claim extra credibility if they survived his grilling intact.

Debate moderator Tim Russert speaks to the audience before a debate of Democratic presidential hopefuls at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., Sept. 26, 2007. This year, Time Magazine named Russert one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Tim Russert moderates the Republican Presidential Candidates Debate from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., Jan. 24, 2008. Russert had blue collar roots, a Jesuit education, a law degree and a Democratic pedigree that came from his turn as an aide to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York.

Tim Russert moderates the Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate from Cleveland State University in Cleveland, Ohio, Feb. 26, 2008. He was married to Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair Magazine. The couple had one son, Luke. One of his books, "Big Russ and Me," was about his relationship with his father.

NBC "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert and CBS "Face the Nation" moderator Bob Schieffer share a laugh in this undated photo.

Former President Bill Clinton, left, speaks with Managing Editor and Moderator Tim Russert of NBC News' "Meet The Press" Sept 30, 2007, in New York.

President Bush is interviewed Feb. 7, 2004, by NBC's "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert, left, in the Oval Office of the White House, in the first network television interview of Bush since he was elected to be President of the United States in 2000.

Tim Russert's casket is seen at St. Albans School in Washington, Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Many people, including President Bush, paid their respects to Russert, who died of a heart attack on June 13, 2008, while at work in Washington.

Maureen Orth, widow of the late Tim Russert, and their son Luke Russert, watch as the casket of the Meet the Press host is carried into Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2008.

Friends, colleagues, and political luminaries arrive at Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2008, for the funeral mass of NBC's Tim Russert, who died of a heart attack at age 58. At top right is, NBC Today show host Matt Lauer, and former Today Show host Bryant Gumbel, at bottom right is NBC News anchor Brian Williams.

Maureen Orth, widow of Tim Russert, center, and their son, Luke Russert, watch as the casket of the Meet the Press host is carried from Holy Trinity Church following mass, Wednesday, June 18,2008, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington.

Maureen Orth, right, wife of the late Tim Russert, and son Luke, left, are comforted by Archbishop Emeritus of Washington Theodore McCarrick following the funeral mass for the late host of NBC's Meet the Press, at Holy Trinity Church in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, Wednesday, June 18, 2008.