ANDREA SEABROOK, host:

Our parting words tonight from a man who left his own mark on American history, on politics, and on the media - longtime newsman of NBC Tim Russert. He died suddenly yesterday, two days before Father's Day.

Four years ago he wrote his first best-selling book. It was an ode to his own father, titled "Big Russ and Me." In it he describes the moment he decided to write the book. He was accepting an award from the American Legion.

Mr. TIM RUSSERT (Host, "Meet the Press"): When I asked dad to come up and accept the award that the Legion had give me, he burst into tears. I was surprised. In my whole life I had seen dad cry on only two occasions - at his mother's funeral in 1967 and at his father's three years later. But now he was wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. He looked around the dais and saw all these grizzled war veterans, men very much like himself, men who didn't cry very often. And when they saw dad crying, they started crying too.

SEABROOK: Parting words, in his own words, from the late Tim Russert. He died yesterday at age 58, just days after moving his dad into a nursing center.

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SEABROOK: And that's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Andrea Seabrook. Don't forget to call Dad tomorrow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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