David Broder was first and foremost a reporter.
Although he would eventually make his name as a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, the journalism professor emeritus made his mark on the world of political reporting with a long and storied career at The Washington Post. Broder, 81, died Wednesday at Capital Hospice in Arlington, Va., of complications from diabetes.
“David was one of the most influential journalists of his or any generation,” said Dan Balz, a political correspondent at The Post who had worked with Broder since the late 1970s. “But he was also one of the most humble and modest and self-effacing people that I’ve ever met.”
Broder joined this university’s journalism faculty as a full professor in spring 2001 and taught weekly seminars the following semester on political reporting and the media’s relationship with the government. As one of four Pulitzer winners on the university’s faculty at the time, Broder’s hiring was considered a major success for the journalism college. In a 2001 press release, former journalism Dean Thomas Kunkel called Broder “the nation’s most respected political journalist.”
And Broder said at the time he was excited to take his expertise to the classroom during a pivotal time of political reporting.
“I have come to know both students and faculty in College Park … and I am looking forward to joining them,” he said in the release. “This is a particularly challenging time for journalism and politics, and Maryland is well-placed to be a national center for examining how to rebuild the press and our system of government.”
Although Balz said Broder garnered much of his fame during his 40-plus-year career writing columns for The Post — which won him the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary on the Watergate scandal in 1973 — he felt most at home when reporting.
“He was never comfortable simply pontificating — he was always happiest when he would go out and talk to people,” Balz said. “A lot of political reporters spend time with candidates and with political operatives and strategists, and David knew all those people and respected many of them. But he always believed the most important contribution he could make was giving voters a voice in coverage of every election.”
Born in Chicago Heights, Ill., on Sept. 11, 1929, Broder began his career in political journalism at Congressional Quarterly in Washington before writing for the now-defunct Washington Star for five years and spending a year and a half at The New York Times. He joined The Post in 1966 and stayed there until his death.
Robert Kaiser, an associate editor for The Post, met Broder in 1967 and served as his boss for five years. Kaiser recalled both Broder’s easygoing personality and relentless enthusiasm.
“He was always first among the exceptions — he was never difficult,” he said. “He was always available to help, and he was always taking the extra steps to do something better.”
But Broder made some of his most lasting impressions through his kindness, not just his work.
“Reporters can sometimes be very self-protective and … they don’t easily engage in a lot of conversation about what they were doing,” said journalism college Dean Kevin Klose, who worked alongside Broder at The Post. “He was never that way. He was always open and always available for advice or comment.”
That sharing earned him the nickname “the dean” of the Washington press corps — and his colleagues’ respect.
“His most endearing feature was his generosity,” Kaiser added. “He never hoarded his own information, and he was always willing to share.”
According to The Post, Broder is survived by his wife, Ann Collar of Arlington; four sons, George Broder of San Francisco, Joshua Broder of Brooklyn, N.Y., Matthew Broder of Hamden, Conn., and Michael Broder of Arlington; and seven grandchildren.
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