In memoriam

Sorry to hijack this blog for a post that has nothing to do with my kids. But perhaps it will serve to teach them that it's important to pay your respects when someone you admire passes away.

First impressions, they say, are lasting.

June 1996: I'm 24, getting my first break in the news industry. I'm a desk assistant at NBC News Washington, and this is my first afternoon assignment meeting. Russert sits at the head of the table, listening as show producers from Today and Nightly News run down what they have planned for their next broadcasts. When they're done, my boss introduces me as the new guy charged with answering phones and distributing faxes. Tim looks at me and asks, "Where you from?

I stammer. "Upstate New York. An hour north of Syracuse. Not far from Canada. A little town you've never heard of. Rodman?"

Tim blows up: "Are you sure? Jefferson County? 23rd District? Congressman McHugh?"

Me, 25 shades of crimson: "Ummm, yes."

Tim: "I want the truth! We're all about the truth in this business and it took me four questions to get it from you!"

Then he laughs -- that red-faced, deep-throated, sincere laugh that I'd hear again and again during my years in the newsroom.

I can't believe he's gone. Journalism has lost a legend.