Passing: Tim Russert

I never met Tim Russert, who died suddenly on June 13.

I didn't watch him all that much - childrens' television has long ago taken over around here. I did get to see him occassionally on TV or hear him as a guest on the radio.

But yet his passing compels me to say afew words about him.

Perhaps it was his age - just a couple of years older than me. I felt that our generation had a legitimate non-Yuppie standard carrier. You know, old school. Perhaps it was the homage he paid to his Dad (how ironic that he should die just at the start of a Father's Day weekend) and that generation that survived and overcome the Depression and World War II (and did so in such a quite, dignified, modest yet powerful way).

Perhaps it was that Tim Ruseert was a lawyer who retained his humanity (perhaps by not practicing law) - something I continue to effort to do.

Maybe it was the high cholesterol that felled him (something I fight today). Gee, we are all so vulnerable. Life is so precious.

Perhaps.

But more likely it is that Tim Russert was able to transcend. A Washington insider but still someone who could connect with us outside the Beltway. While he interviewed Presidents and the other powerful of the world, he never forgot who he was and where he came from. He possessed strong professional skills, but used them in a way that never forgot the common good.

No, I never watched Tim Russert all that much. Yet I mourn his death deeply and will miss his passion. his professionalism and his presence.