Howard Fineman, a longtime Washington scribe and television commentator for NBC and MSNBC, died on Tuesday at the age of 75.
Fineman’s wife Amy Nathan broke the news on social media that he had passed away after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Nathan posted a message on Fineman’s X account, writing: “This is Howard’s wife, Amy Nathan. I am heartbroken to share my brilliant and extraordinary husband passed away late last night surrounded by those he loved most, his family. He valiantly battled pancreatic cancer for 2 years. He couldn’t have been adored more. The world was a better place because he lived in it and wrote about it.”
Fineman had spent 30 years at Newsweek beginning in 1980 where he served as chief political correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief during the magazine’s heyday. He also served as a global editor of HuffPost in 2012.
The journalist also frequently appeared on NBC News and MSNBC for years and became a familiar face to TV viewers through his appearanced on shows including MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” “The Rachel Maddow Show,” PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” and CNN’s “Capital Gang Sunday.”
Stricken with terminal cancer, Fineman was recently interviewed by HuffPost’s Sam Stein ahead of his passing, in which he recounted the trajectory of his journalism career.
“I’ve gone from the manual typewriter to Twitter,” he told Stein. “I’ve done everything but skywriting.
Fineman said he had gone into journalism because it let him explore his curiosities and overcome his own insecurities.
“I’m not the world’s most social person by nature,” Fineman said. “The way I could square being an outsider and being part of the human race was by being in a newsroom.”
Fineman started his career The Courier-Journal in Louisville in 1973, Kentucky before joining the newspapers D.C. bureau four years later. Armed with a thick rolodex of D.C. contacts, he joined Newsweek in 1980 where he honed his craft and earned the admiration of newsmakers and media insiders.
His work there included numerous cover stories, including President George W. Bush’s first extensive interview after 9/11 and another cover story entitled “Bush and God”, which was part of a package that won a National Magazine Award.
Fineman’s book, “The Thirteen American Arguments: Enduring Debates That Define and Inspire Our Country,” was published in 2008.
Born on Nov. 17, 1948, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Fineman realized he wanted to be a journalist when he was just 8 years. The young Fineman had set up a maekshift newsroom on election night in 1956 in the den of his family home.
“It was really one of the nerdiest things you could imagine,” Howard recalled to Stein.
Fineman is survived by his daughter Meredith, son Nick and daughter in law Summer.
News of Fineman’s passing on social media, comes days after the announcement of the death of another veteran journalist. Ben White, a CNBC contributor and chief economic correspondent for Politico, died from a brief illness on June 1, his partner announced on the social media site.
