Sat 12 Jul 2008
Tony Snow, the conservative columnist and television commentator who relished sparring with reporters during a 17-month stint as President Bush’s press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer, the White House said. He was 53.
Mr. Snow’s tenure was interrupted by a recurrence of his cancer, and he was quite public about his battle with the disease, saying he wanted to offer hope to other cancer patients. His message to them, he once said, was: “Don’t think about dying. Think about living.â€
Dana Perino, who succeeded Mr. Snow as press secretary, said Mr. Snow’s family informed her of the death by the family early Saturday morning. Mr. Bush received the news from his chief of staff, Joshua B. Bolten reports the New York Times.
“We learned a lot from him — most importantly how we should love our families and treat one another,†Dana Perino, Mr. Bush’s spokesman said. “The White House has lost a great friend.â€
With his tall, lanky frame, his thick head of gray hair (it thinned, but never disappeared, during chemotherapy) and his showman’s style, Mr. Snow, who joined the White House in April 2006, helped reinvigorate a press operation that many Republicans believed had been lacking. He loved serving at the White House, once calling it “the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I’m ever going to have.â€
Read it here: Tony Snow, Former White House Press Secretary, Dies at 53
July 12th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Billy Joel had a song called “Only the Good Die Young” and that is certainly the case here. I obviously did not know Tony Snow personally, but he always came across on TV as a good and decent man. The loony left trashed him during his illness, wishing his swift death. I am sure the “LL” is gleeful at his passing. It is to their eternal shame that are like that, but that is what America has come to. All I can say is “Tony, God be with you and your family”.