Veteran political reporter Howard Fineman, who covered the epicenter of Washington power for three decades for Newsweek magazine before becoming an analyst for MSNBC and other outlets, has died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his wife announced Tuesday.
Feynman, who was 75, died Monday at his home in Washington.
“I am heartbroken to share that my brilliant and extraordinary husband passed away late last night surrounded by the family he loved most,” Amy Nathan wrote on her husband’s X (formerly Twitter) account. “He could not have been more loved. The world is a better place because he lived and wrote about it.”
Born Nov. 17, 1948, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Feynman joined Newsweek in 1980 and quickly began building a reputation as one of the nation’s sharpest observers of Washington affairs.
At the time, it was one of the most widely read weekly news papers in the United States, and Feynman interviewed presidents and politicians, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at Congress, where decisions were made that affected their lives.
Feynman left Newsweek in 2010 for The Huffington Post (now The Huffington Post), where he became senior political editor and later global editorial director.
Additionally, Feynman became a commentator for MSNBC and was a frequent guest on “Hardball with Chris Matthews,” “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” and “The Rachel Maddow Show.”
Feynman also became a familiar face to generations of television viewers who tuned in to other political news shows such as PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” and CNN’s “Capital Gang Sunday.”
A brilliant commentator, Feynman was known for his wit and encyclopedic knowledge of politics, having covered the administrations of seven presidents over the course of his career.
As news of Feynman’s death spread, tributes began pouring in quickly.
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing became emotional Wednesday as he recounted his first meeting with Feynman.
“I was in awe of him,” Jansing said, her voice trembling, “and I have unlimited respect for him as a person and as a journalist.”
Jansing noted that Feynman’s son Nick serves as senior producer on his show, and added: “We send our love and condolences to the whole family. This is a terrible loss and we love you all.”
Feinman grew up in a Jewish family in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood and celebrated his bar mitzvah at the Tree of Life synagogue, where a gunman stormed into the house of worship in 2018, killing 11 people in what may have been the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in U.S. history.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University, Feynman began his career as a newspaper reporter covering coal mining and local politics for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
By 1978, Feynman was working in the paper’s Washington bureau, and two years later he signed with Newsweek.
Feynman married technology lawyer Amy Nathan in 1981. In addition to his son, Feynman is survived by his daughter Meredith Feynman and sister Beth Feynman Schroeter, according to The New York Times.
