Jack Germond, R.I.P.

Jack Germond, R.I.P.

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jack Worthen Germond (January 30, 1928 - August 14, 2013) was an American journalist, author, and pundit. He was noteworthy as a veteran newspaperman of 50 years' standing, having written for the now-defunct Washington Star and for The Baltimore Sun. Together with Jules Witcover, Germond co-wrote "Politics Today," a five-day-a-week syndicated column, for more than 24 years.

Life and career

Germond was born in Boston, Massachusetts, an only child and raised in a striving middle-class household in Boston and Trenton, New Jersey. When he was 13, his family moved to Mississippi, and then to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where Germond finished high school. After attending Louisiana State University for one semester, he served in the U.S. Army in 1946–47, returning to college on the GI bill and then graduating from the University of Missouri with degrees in journalism and history.

Germond began his career working for Gannett's Rochester Times-Union in 1961. He moved to the Washington Star in 1974, became a syndicated columnist and national editor, and went on to The Baltimore Sun when the Star folded. He began to appear on Meet the Press in 1972, the Today Show in 1980, and the NBC and PBS program The McLaughlin Group from its inception in 1981.^{[citation needed]}

Despite having been a television personality for decades, Germond cultivated an image of being an old-fashioned newspaper reporter, somewhat disdainful of slick TV types, and who liked to visit the horse racing track and enjoy the occasional drink.^{[citation needed]}

A fixture on The McLaughlin Group for 15 years before abruptly resigning, Germond later appeared on CNN, and appeared for a time on the PBS program Inside Washington.

In 2011 he wrote several pieces on the 2012 Presidential election for The Daily Beast, an online-only publication.^[1]

His political opinions were generally liberal, and he was an atheist.

Personal life

Germond and his first wife, Barbara Wipple, a fellow student at the University of Missouri, were married shortly after he graduated in 1951. They had two daughters, Mandy and Jessica. In 1977, after battling leukemia for five years, Mandy died at age 14. Jessica (now Jessica Moreland) is a pediatrician who does clinical work and research.

In 1984, Germond met political activist and Democratic campaign party operative Alice Travis. Germond and his wife Barbara subsequently divorced, and in 1988, he and Alice Travis married. Alice Travis Germond has two children from a prior marriage, David Travis and Abigail Travis, and is the current Secretary Emeritus of the Democratic National Committee. Germond lived with his wife in Charles Town, West Virginia, on the bend of the Shenandoah River. ^[2] Germond died at his home on August 14, 2013. He was 85.^[3]

The entire wiki article on this individual can be found at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Germond