'McLaughlin Group' Journalist Jack Germond Dies

Longtime political journalist Jack Germond died Wednesday morning. He was 85.

His wife, Alice Germond, secretary of the DNC, emailed friends at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, with subject line "Jack's Gone ": "At a little before 4 a.m., Jack passed away. He went peacefully and quickly after just completing this novel, a tale he had pondered while writing columns, campaign books, a memoir and covering our politics and politicians. He lived a marvelous, full and well loved life. I think he was a great reporter, I know he was a hearty eater and the good conversation as important as the food. And yes, he enjoyed extending an evening. He had a bold journalistic ethic, and that matters. He was fortunate to spend his life working at a job he would have done for free during some halcyon times in the newspaper business.

Jack indeed played the horses, always studying the form and hoping for that elusive triple crown winner -- but there was no such thing as a bad day at the track. He welcomed the day sitting on our deck in WV watching the bald eagles who returned to soar over the Shenandoah and the blue birds nest. In the evening the sunset mirroring the day's end. To his many friends, he appreciated the great company, story, scoop, competition and laughter. He fit his life and times so very well. I love him and it's been great."

Germond covered politics for half a century, including 20 years with Gannett papers, 20 years with the Baltimore Sun and eight years at the Washington Star.

His earliest TV appearances were on NBC's "Meet The Press" and "The Today Show," beginning in the early 1970s. He joined "The McLaughlin Group" when it premiered in 1981 and was a fixture on the show for 15 years before quitting the show, following a series of disputes with McLaughlin. He quit the show by faxing McLaughlin a fax that read merely "bye-bye." In recent years, his TV appearances had been limited to a few segments on CNN.

He was the author of three books and co-authored three more with longtime collaborator Jules Witcover.  Together with Witcover, Germond co-wrote "Politics Today," a five-day-a-week syndicated column, for more than 24 years.