Tom Brokaw Presents Award to Russert’s Widow and Son.

Tim Russert, the late moderator of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” was honored posthumously with the Lincoln Leadership Prize by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation (ALPLF) at a benefit dinner on Thursday, Feb. 10, 2011, at The Four Seasons Hotel, 120 E. Delaware Place in Chicago. Former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw presented the award to Russert’s widow, Maureen Orth, and son, Luke Russert.
“Everyone associated with our Foundation is so pleased that Maureen and Luke accepted the Lincoln Leadership Prize in honor of Tim Russert,” said T. Tolbert Chisum, acting CEO of ALPLF. “Everyday, visitors to our museum in Springfield see Tim Russert in action as he applies 21st century news broadcast reporting to the election of 1860.” Maureen Orth added that she and her son are donating their ALPLF honorarium to Boys and Girls Clubs, which Tim Russert supported throughout his life, and to the One Laptop per Child program at The Marina Orth School in Medellin, Colombia, where she had served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the 1960s.
More than 350 guests attended the benefit dinner that raised more than $450,000 according to Chisum. The fourth annual benefit dinner was co-chaired by Gregory C. Case, president and CEO, Aon Corporation; Frank M. Clark, chairman and CEO, ComEd; Steve Capus, president, NBC News; Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize winning author; Paul V. La Schiazza, president, AT+T; Chaz Hammel-Smith Ebert, executive producer, Roger Ebert Presents at the Movies; Raymond F. McCaskey, CEO (retired), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois; and Gregory D. Wasson, president and CEO, Walgreen Company.
Established in 2006 by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, the Lincoln Leadership Prize recognizes outstanding leaders who have accepted the responsibilities imposed by history and demanded by conscience. Tim Russert joins Tutu/O’Connor/Lovell as individuals whom ALPLF has applauded for their lifetime of service in the Lincoln tradition—marked by great strength of character, individual conscience and an unwavering commitment to the defining principles of democracy.
To learn more about the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, please visit www.alplm.org.