Tim Russert - dead of a heart attack aged 58

Too soon. I've complained about him a lot in the past year, but his reporting throughout his entire career has been so stellar that the expectations he raised in liberals were bound to fall short by a bit. That's not to undercut his integrity and the loss that will be felt in the journalism world by his death.

On a personal note, I remember that watching Meet the Press in high school was, with my forced-viewings of Newshour, the catalyst to my political awakening.