Journalist Tim Russert was born in Buffalo, New York on May 7, 1950. He earned a B.A. from John Carroll University and a Juris Doctor from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He was admitted to the bar in both New York and the District of Columbia. After graduating from law school, he worked on New York Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan's successful senatorial campaign in 1976 and served as his chief of staff from 1977 to 1982. He then worked on New York Democrat Mario Cuomo's successful gubernatorial campaign in 1982, and worked in the governor's office from 1983 to 1984.
He joined the NBC Washington Bureau in 1984. He became Washington Bureau Chief in 1988 and was later promoted to senior vice president of NBC News. He became the host of Meet the Press in 1991. He won numerous awards during his career as a journalist including the Edward R. Murrow Award, the John Peter Zenger Freedom of the Press Award, the American Legion Journalism Award, and a 2005 Emmy Award for his coverage of former President Ronald Reagan's funeral.
In 2004, he wrote an autobiography Big Russ and Me about his life growing up and the values his father taught him like the importance of maintaining strong family values, the reverence of faith, and of never taking a short cut to reach a goal. In 2006, he released Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons, which contained letters he received from people, detailing their own experiences with their fathers, in response to his first book. He died due to a heart attack on June 13, 2008.
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