NBC journalist Tim Russert has died at the age of 58 after collapsing at work following an apparent heart attack.

Russert was the managing editor and host of NBC's Meet the Press and a political commentator for NBC Nightly News and the Today program. He was also a senior vice president and Washington bureau chief of NBC News.

A question and answer article with Russert about this week's Meet the Press was just updated early Friday afternoon on MSNBC.com. Russert said he expected to moderate a debate between two potential vice-presidential candidates from both major U.S. parties.

A visibly shaken Tom Brokaw went on-air on NBC to tell viewers about his colleague's passing. Brokaw said NBC News would never be the same.

In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the most influential people in the world. He had won numerous awards and was the author of two bestselling books.

Russert's passing comes just days before Father's Day. Both of his books were on the subject of fathers, and he won several "Father of the Year" awards from prominent groups.

He is survived by his wife, Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, and their son, Luke. His father, now in his late 80s, lives in Buffalo.

Russert was born in Buffalo, N.Y., on May 7, 1950. He earned a law degree and worked for the state of New York and then was a special counsel to the Senate before switching careers into journalism.

Career

Meet the Press, now in the 60th year, is the long-running program in the history of television, NBC says. Russert took over the helm of the program in December 1991.

He joined NBC News in 1984, according to his MSNBC biography. His big break was negotiating an appearance on the Today Show for Pope John Paul II, a first for American TV.

Russert has won numerous awards, particularly for his biting interviews of major U.S. personalities. It is expected that U.S. presidential candidates go on Meet the Press during any campaign.

Russert's political opinion was widely respected. It was after he said that Sen. Barack Obama had won the Democratic presidential nomination that other media outlets felt safe declaring Obama the victor.

In the 2000 U.S. election he said that which ever party won Florida would win the election, which turned out to be correct. In 2004, he said the same about Ohio, which also turned out true.

Numerous politicians, who normally would go in trepidation before Russert, passed along notes of condolences Friday, including President George Bush, Republican presidential nominee John McCain and former vice-president Al Gore.

Obama told reporters Friday that "he was grief-stricken with the loss" and that there "wasn't a finer interviewer on television." He said that he regarded Russert as a friend.