'Meet the Press' host Bill Monroe dies

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 Jimmy Carter and Henry Kissinger.

Monroe's daughter, Lee Monroe, said her father had taken a fall in December that put him in a nursing home and had not been well since.

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

In 1961 he became NBC's Washington 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.

Tim Russert, the best-known host of "Meet the Press," assumed the host's chair in 1991 after a series of stints by others following Monroe's departure. Marvin Kalb, who with Roger Mudd co-hosted the show after Monroe left, called him a "consummate interviewer" and "gracious host."