Who was Tim Russert?

It has been a while since I had a TV, and back then used it mostly for DVDs and Nature shows. Usually this is not a big deal, I can get the news from a paper (Love the Wall Street Journal) or the internet. Between the weather and politics there is plenty to talk about besides what is on TV. Occasionally the New Yorker has an article about current shows with enough information not to be completely out of touch. So it seems that nothing is lost by not watching.

Then Tim Russert dies, and everyone is talking about it, and all I can remember is that he asked Obama a tough question once, and that I think he wrote a book about his Dad.