Mark Shields dies at age 85: ‘Encyclopedic knowledge of U.S. politics’

Mark Shields, the famend Democratic political journalist, columnist, and commentator for PBS, died on Saturday morning at the age of 85.

Shields’ passing was introduced on Twitter by one of his longtime colleagues, PBS NewsHour anchor and editor Judy Woodruff. Woodruff famous that Shields handed together with his spouse, Anne Hudson Shields, by his aspect. She additionally recommended him for his “many years” of work with PBS and “his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics.”

“I’m heartbroken to share this,” Woodruff wrote in her tweet. “The NewsHour’s beloved long-time Friday night time analyst Mark Shields, who for many years wowed us together with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor, and primarily his large coronary heart, has handed away at 85, together with his spouse Anne at his aspect.”

Shields started making weekly Friday appearances on NewsHour in 1988, providing up-to-the-minute political evaluation and dialog with a conservative counterpart, up till his retirement in 2020. His longest-serving counterpart was New York Times columnist David Brooks, who appeared alongside him from 2001 to 2020. Previously, the function was crammed by the likes of William Safire, Paul Gigot, and David Gergen.

Born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, in 1937, Shields went on to graduate from the University of Notre Dame in 1959. Following commencement, he served within the United States Marine Corps from 1960 to 1962, attaining the rank of lance corporal.

Shields entered the realm of politics in 1965, serving as an aide for Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire. Later, he labored for the presidential marketing campaign of Robert F. Kennedy, and later held management positions within the campaigns of presidential candidates like Edmund Muskie and Morris Udall.

He transitioned to political writing in 1979, writing editorial content material for The Washington Post. Over the many years, he additionally served as a columnist for shops like ABC and CNN. In 1985, he revealed the e-book, On the Campaign Trail, concerning the 1984 presidential election.

As of Saturday, Shields’ trigger of loss of life shouldn’t be recognized.

In response to his longtime colleague’s passing, Brooks shared a 2020 opinion piece from The New York Times he wrote on the event of Shields’s retirement, “Mark Shields and the Best of American Liberalism.” In his tweet from Saturday, Brooks known as the piece his “try to seize one of the best and beloved males I’ve ever recognized,” and added, “we are going to miss him.”

“We are all imprinted as kids and younger adults with sure concepts concerning the world, which stick with us for the remainder of our lives,” Brooks wrote in 2020. “Mark, like many who got here of age within the Fifties and Nineteen Sixties—together with Joe Biden—was imprinted with the concept that politics is a deeply noble occupation, a kind of service, a vocation.”

Newsweek reached out to NewsHour for remark.