Jim Lehrer of <br />'MacNeil-Lehrer Report' <br />Dead at 85 On Thursday, PBS <br />announced that the veteran <br />broadcast journalist died <br />"peacefully in his sleep." Lehrer began as the Washington <br />correspondent for the news program <br />in 1975. He became the sole host in 1995. Beginning in 1988, Lehrer was <br />a frequent presidential debate moderator. Drawing upon his "30 years in <br />the news business," he was also a <br />successful fiction writer and screenwriter. Bret Baier of Fox News called <br />Lehrer “an inspiration to a whole generation <br />of political journalists — including this one.” CNN's Jake Tapper called Lehrer <br />“a wonderful man and a superb journalist.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi <br />also responded to the news, saying Lehrer <br />was a “champion for truth and transparency.” Lehrer had a heart <br />attack in the early 1980s. <br />He underwent heart <br />valve surgery in 2008.
