WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- The moderator 's chair on NBC 's `` Meet the Press '' stood empty on Sunday in remembrance of Tim Russert , the man who had occupied it for 17 years . The moderator 's chair on NBC 's `` Meet the Press '' stood empty Sunday in remembrance of Tim Russert . As the show 's host , Russert became a mainstay of television journalism 's political talk . He died Friday of apparent heart attack , according to the network . He was 58 . The network said Russert collapsed while at work . Colleague and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw , who broke the news about the anchor 's death , spoke on Sunday the familiar first four words of the news program , `` Our issues this Sunday . '' He noted that those were the same words Russert had been recording for the show when he collapsed and died . `` Our issue this sad Sunday morning is remembering and honoring our colleague and friend , '' Brokaw said . `` He said he was only the temporary custodian , '' of this program , which he called a national treasure , Brokaw said . `` Of course , he was so much more than all that . '' Brokaw sat among some of Russert 's other colleagues in the front of the show 's set , including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin and political analysts Mary Matalin and James Carville , who is also a CNN contributor . `` This is where you separated the men from the boys , '' said Matalin , who is married to Carville . `` You were n't a candidate until you came on this show . '' A montage of clips from past years showed various politicians -- former President Bill Clinton , President Bush , former presidential candidate Ross Perot , Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff -- sitting across the table from Russert . Watch politicians , journalists pay homage to Russert » . Some showed the politicians as they squirmed . `` Look , I was asked -- I should n't have said that , '' New Mexico Gov . Bill Richardson said on the show in May 2007 . Richardson had appeared on the show as part of the `` Meet the Candidates 2008 '' series , and was grilled by Russert about his contradictory positions on numerous issues . `` So you 're - I 've been in public life for 25 years , you 're going to find a lot of these ; it seems you found them all here , '' he said , smiling somewhat sheepishly . `` I 'm just trying to set the record and trying to give you a chance to respond , which is fair , '' Russert had responded . In another clip at the end of an April 2006 show , Sen. John McCain told Russert , `` I have n't had so much fun since my last interrogation . '' Russert had appeared as an unlikely icon for television news , with his cherubic face and dimpled chin , but he was a prolific interviewer and tireless journalist , one with an intimidating breadth of political knowledge and insight . `` It was a very easy show to prepare for in the sense that you knew he was not going to ask you any questions out of left field ; you knew his thing was going to be entitlements , you knew his thing was going to be past statements , you knew where he was coming from , '' Carville said Sunday of `` Meet the Press . '' Matalin countered : `` It was simple in the fact that there was no 'gotcha , ' but it was not easy . Because you had to be 10 questions deep , because he was going to be 12 questions deep . '' As news of his death hit the airwaves and Internet , tributes rolled in -- with nearly everyone praising his prowess as a journalist and as an interviewer . Bush , in a written statement , called Russert `` a tough and hardworking newsman . '' `` He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews , '' Bush said . `` And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it . '' Longtime CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite said , `` Broadcast journalism lost one of its greats today . Tim Russert was a giant in our field -- a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and ethics . His masterful interviews and roundtable discussions are legendary . This is a tragic loss for journalism and for all who were privileged to know him . '' But colleagues who knew him best also praised his warmth , and described him as a mentor . `` I think it 's so poignant that we 're talking about Tim on Father 's Day because he was a father to so many of us , '' said California first lady Maria Shriver , who once worked for NBC . On Friday , NBC chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell said , `` He was always teaching each of us to be as rigorous as he was in looking at all the facts , examining everything and then being as balanced and fair and down-the-middle as anyone could possibly be . '' Washingtonian Magazine once dubbed Russert the best and most influential journalist in Washington , D.C. , describing `` Meet the Press '' as `` the most interesting and important hour on television . '' In 2008 , Time Magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world . His two books -- 2004 's `` Big Russ and Me '' and 2006 's `` Wisdom of Our Fathers '' -- were both New York Times bestsellers .
The moderator 's chair on NBC 's ` `` Big Russ and Me '' stood empty Sunday . Veteran journalist collapses at work , according to New York Times . The 58-year-old Russert died of an apparent heart attack . Russert : `` Our issue this sad morning '' is honoring Tom Brokaw .