NOTEWORTHY DEATH

Former Meet the Press moderator

WASHINGTON -

Bill Monroe, who hosted the long-running Washington political television show Meet the Press for nearly a decade, died Thursday at a Washington-area nursing home.

Monroe, 90, was the NBC show’s fourth moderator, from 1975 to 1984, and interviewed prominent political figures, including President Jimmy Carter and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Tim Russert, the best-known host of Meet the Press, assumed the host’s chair in 1991 after a series of short stints by others after Monroe’s departure.

Monroe’s daughter, Lee Monroe, said her father entered a nursing home after a fall in December and had not been well since.

Bill Monroe was born in New Orleans on July 17, 1920. He graduated from Tulane University, served in World War II and later began his career in television journalism at the New Orleans NBC affiliate, WDSU.

In 1961 he moved to Washington, where he became NBC’s bureau chief. He worked on the Today Show, winning the Peabody Award in 1972, and succeeded Lawrence Spivak as host of Meet the Press in 1975.

Marvin Kalb, who with Roger Mudd co-hosted Meet the Press after Monroe left, called him a “consummate interviewer” and a “gracious host.”