Conservative commentator Tony Blankley dies, 63

Tony Blankley, a conservative author, columnist and political observer who had been a top aide to former House Speaker  Newt Gingrich, died of cancer Saturday in Washington, his wife Lynda Davis said Sunday. He was 63.

Blankley was born in England and spoke with a trace of a British accent, but he was raised in Los Angeles. As a child, he acted in television shows such as "Lassie" and "Make Room for Daddy" before developing an interest in the law and politics as a teenager.

He came to Washington early in the Reagan administration, taking a post as a press secretary to Education Secretary Terrel Bell and later joining the White House staff in the policy and speechwriting areas.

After serving Rep. Gingrich, a Georgia Republican, as press secretary from 1990 to 1997, Blankley remained prominent as a commentator on politics and international affairs. In addition to supervising the Washington Times editorial pages from 2002 to 2007, he wrote a column for the newspaper.

He was also a mainstay of television talk shows such as "The McLaughlin Group" and the radio program "Left, Right and Center." Most recently, Blankley was a senior executive with the Edelman public relations firm. At the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, he pursued research on global public diplomacy.

Blankley joined Gingrich's staff four years before the 1994 Republican Revolution in which Gingrich became speaker. During his time with Gingrich, Blankley was a spokesman and close adviser and became a colorful political personality in his own right.