Tim Russert's office will live on at Newseum

Last update: October 7, 2009 - 5:53 PM

Longtime "Meet the Press" moderator Tim Russert's office, complete with Buffalo Bills pennants and a journalist's clutter, will go on display next month at the Newseum near the Capitol.

The office will be reassembled to look as it did June 13, 2008, the day Russert died of a heart attack at age 58 while recording voice-overs for his next show at NBC's Washington bureau. The exhibit at the journalism museum opens Nov. 20 and will remain through 2010.

"After Tim's death, it became very clear to us that Tim really hit a nerve with a wider swath of people than you would ordinarily think for a journalist," Charles Overby, the Newseum's chief executive, said Wednesday. He noted Edward R. Murrow is the only other journalist who gets such prominent treatment.

"That shows the plateau on which we think Tim sits," he said.

Russert, who served on the Newseum's board of directors, began hosting "Meet the Press" in 1991.

Besides about 300 books, Russert's office included a drawing done by his son, Luke, at age 7. A sign at the front of his desk carried a special message for his staff: "Thou Shalt Not Whine."

NBC News President Steve Capus said: "When I saw the mock-up of what it was going to look like, it literally gave me chills. You know, I felt like we were right back in those wonderful days when Tim was still with us."

ASSOCIATED PRESS