Robert Anthony Snow 1955-2008

Tony Snow, former White House Press Secretary for President Bush and television and radio personality, has lost his battle with cancer:

Mr. Snow’s death was announced by the White House. When a recurrence of the cancer interrupted his tenure there, he chose to talk about it openly, saying he wanted to offer hope to other patients. His message to them, he said, was: “Don’t think about dying. Think about living.”

With his tall, lanky frame, his head of thick gray hair (it thinned, but never disappeared, during chemotherapy) and his showman’s style, Mr. Snow, who joined the White House in April 2006, helped reinvigorate a press operation that many Republicans believed had been lacking. He loved serving at the White House, once calling it “the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I’m ever going to have.” ...

“It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day,” the president said in a statement from Camp David, where he is spending the weekend. “He brought wit, grace and a great love of country to his work. His colleagues will cherish memories of his energetic personality and relentless good humor.”

Before becoming the chief spokesman for the president, Mr. Snow was a syndicated newspaper columnist and later a commentator for Fox News. He was also host of the network’s Sunday public affairs program “Fox News Sunday.”

A convert to the Catholic faith, Tony Snow gave the Commencement Address on "Reason, Faith and Vocation" at the Catholic University in America in May 2007.

See also Tony Snow Dead at 53, A Tribute to a Catholic Journalist, by Deacon Keith Fournier (Catholic.org July 12, 2008).

For political junkies, Snow's conferences were great entertainment. Unlike his predecessor, he relished the back-and-forth banter and could stand his own against the interrogations of the press, giving them a run for their money (Examples here and here and here).

Related

• The Character of Optimism, by William Kristol. New York Times July 14, 2008:

  Tony Snow was a conservative. But he didn’t have a prejudice in favor of melancholy. His deep Christian faith combined with his natural exuberance to give him an upbeat world view. Watching him, and so admiring his remarkable strength of character in the last phase of his life, I came to wonder: Could it be that a stance of faith-grounded optimism is in fact superior to one of worldly pessimism or sophisticated fatalism?

  
  
• MSM Falls Down on Job of Reporting Snow's Catholic Faith , by Jay Anderson. Pro Ecclesia -- strange how the press can remember and quote Snow's White House salary but neglect to mention his religious faith?
  
• Update - From President Bush's eulogy for Tony Snow:

  The day Tony was born was also the day that many of his fellow Catholics pay tribute to Saint Justin. Justin was also a gifted thinker and writer, and a powerful witness for the Christian faith. Because of his beliefs, he suffered many times of trial, and in the year 165 A.D. he was arrested. Before he received a sentence of death, he was asked: "If you are killed, do you suppose you will go to heaven?" Justin replied: "I do not suppose it, but I know and am fully persuaded of it."
  

  
  Tony Snow knew that, as well. That brought him great peace. When talking about the struggle he waged so admirably, he said that no matter how bad times may sometimes seem, "God doesn't promise tomorrow, he does promise eternity."
  

  
  And so today we send this man of faith and character and joy on his final journey. Tony Snow has left the City of Washington for the City of God. May he find eternal rest in the arms of his Savior. And may the Author of all creation watch over his family and all those who loved him, admired him, and will always cherish his memory.