BREAKING: Tim Russert Has Died

NBC News Washington Bureau Chief and host of Meet the Press, Tim Russert has died of an apparent heart attack.

Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, came on the air at 3:39 p.m. and reported that Mr. Russert had collapsed and died early this afternoon while at work. He had just returned from Italy with his family.

“Our beloved colleague,” a somber Mr. Brokaw called him, one of the premier journalists of our time. He said this was one of the most important years in his life, with his deep engagement in the network’s political coverage, and that he “worked to the point of exhaustion.” Mr. Brokaw said Mr. Russert was a true child of Buffalo and always stayed in touch with his blue collar roots and “the ethos of that community.”

This is sad news, and we offer our condolences to the family of Tim Russert and his co-workers and friends at NBC News.