My serene morning on the Cape was just destroyed by a CNN Breaking News text message that stated “Former White House press secretary Tony Snow has died of cancer. He was 53.” No. Not again. Although he had most recently been on the other side of the media fence than Tim Russert, like Russert Snow was someone I admired in both my professional and personal life and his death has had a stop-me-in-my-tracks, tear-inducing effect on me.

Politically speaking, Snow and I couldn’t have been more diametrically opposed. It would be a newsworthy event for me to ever find something that would cause me to verbally support President Bush and I certainly can’t think of anything including $10,000,000 that would get me to work in his administration. Moreover, Snow was an ex-Fox news guy, a media property that causes me to react out loud — even when alone – to the outrageously biased news they present to their viewers. 

So why do I have such respect and strong feelings towards Snow that I am still teary as I type this? It’s simple. I admired him for the honest human being he was and the consistency he showed when it came to putting his family first through actions, not just lip service.  Snow’s candor and commitment to this priority was front and center when he explained his resignation as Bush’s press secretary through his honest reason that he needed to make more money to help his family, which included kids approaching college.

I will never forget the recent NBC interview with Snow when David Gregory asked him about an essay Snow’s sixteen-year-old son wrote about his Dad’s cancer. Snow became flooded with emotion and could barely speak. It took what felt like ten minutes for Snow to compose himself and explain his emotions by saying, ”It’s great to love people this much.” A simple yet amazingly powerful line that said it all. I have had 100+ similar floods of emotion induced by a family-related situation (happy and sad) and my kids tease me about how much I cry over  things where most people would never shed a tear. However, in forty-five years I have never been able to explain my reaction in as eloquently yet concise response as Snow did in that moment. In a lifetime, I will never forget that line.

It’s ironic that Snow went form being a member of the media to being a press secretary who was often spinning to the media. Technically speaking Snow would fall under the label of “PR person” — a term that can have tremendous negative association for many media people. Snow is a great example of how we should never stereotype anyone. He was a PR guy who was a exceptionally decent human being, no different than the majority of PR people I know. 

Unlike snow that falls silently in the winter, Tony Snow’s passing will be quite explosive. The world lost a great human being today and the PR industry lost a great icon. Sad news on all fronts.

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