Howard Fineman, a longtime Washington reporter and television commentator for NBC and MSNBC, died Tuesday at age 75.
Feynman’s wife Amy Nathan They reported the news on social media He died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer.
Nathan posted a message on Feynman’s X account, writing: “This is Amy Nathan, wife of Howard. I am heartbroken to tell you that my brilliant and extraordinary husband passed away late last night surrounded by the family he loved most. He fought bravely against pancreatic cancer for two years. No one could have been more loved. The world is a better place because he lived and wrote about it.”
Feynman worked at Newsweek for 30 years, from 1980 to 2012, serving as chief political correspondent and deputy Washington bureau chief during the magazine’s heyday, and also as international editor of The Huffington Post in 2012.
The journalist has also appeared frequently on NBC News and MSNBC over the years, becoming a familiar face to television audiences through appearances on such shows as MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” and “The Rachel Maddow Show,” PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” and CNN’s “Capital Gang Sunday.”
Feynman, who was suffering from terminal cancer, was interviewed by Huffington Post’s Sam Stein before his death in which he spoke about the trajectory of his journalistic career.
“I went from manual typewriters to Twitter.” He told Stein. “I did everything except skywriting.
Feynman says he went into journalism because it allowed him to explore his curiosity and overcome his fears.
“I’m not a naturally sociable person,” Feynman says, “and being in the newsroom was a way for me to reconcile my status as both an outsider and a member of the human race.”
Feynman began his career at the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1973 and joined the paper’s Washington bureau four years later. With his deep Washington connections, he joined Newsweek in 1980, where he honed his skills and won the praise of newsmakers and media insiders.
His work there included the first in-depth interview of President George W. Bush after 9/11, “Bush and God”This was part of a package that won a National Magazine Award.
Feynman’s book, “American Debates: The Enduring Debates that Define and Inspire Our Nation,” was published in 2008.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 17, 1948, Feynman knew he wanted to be a journalist at age 8. As a young man, Feynman set up a makeshift newsroom in his parents’ study on election night in 1956.
“It was really one of the nerdiest things you could imagine,” Howard recalled to Stein.
Feinman is survived by his daughter Meredith, son Nick and daughter-in-law Summer.
The news of Feynman’s death broke on social media just days after the death of another veteran journalist: Ben White, a CNBC contributor and Politico chief economics correspondent, died on June 1 after a short illness, his partner announced on the social media site.
