NBC News announced that Tim Russert’s spot as the moderator of Meet the Press will be filled by the anchor of NBC Nightly News, Brian Williams.

Tim Russert passed away last Friday at the age of 58, surprising everyone with the sudden fatal heart attack. Even his personal physician was shocked by the death, as he explained that the moderator’s asymptomatic coronary artery disease was kept under control with exercises and medication.

He left behing his wife Maureen Orth, a Vanity Fair journalist, and their son Luke.

Mr. Russert worked on Meet the Press for the past 16 years, turning it into the longest-running show in television history and also turning its name into a very profitable hook for advertising campaigns, generating revenues of over $60 million.
In addition to his work on Meet the Press he was also the longest-serving host on NBC’s morning show.

He was described as “the best political journalist in America, not just the best television journalist in America" by Al Hunt, Washington executive editor of Bloomberg News, and  was awarded an Emmy in 2005 for his role in the coverage of the funeral of President Ronald Reagan.

Chief executive of NBC Universal, Jeff Zucker, described him as a person who “had a better political insight than anyone else in the room, period." In 2000, Russert won the Joan S. Barone Award (the Radio and Television Correspondents' highest honor) and the Annenberg Center's Walter Cronkite Award for his "Meet the Press" interviews with George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Brian Williams, Russert’s 49-year-old replacement, is a well known anchor and managing editor, noted in Time’s Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. He covered many notable issues such as the death of Princess Diana, Pope John Paul II and Hurricane Katrina.