David S. Broder, 81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post and one of the most respected writers on national politics for four decades, died Wednesday at Capital Hospice in Arlington of complications from diabetes.
Mr. Broder was often called the dean of the Washington press corps – a nickname he earned in his late 30s in part for the clarity of his political analysis and the influence he wielded as a perceptive thinker on political trends in his books, articles and television appearances.
There is scarcely praise enough to lavish on Mr. Broder. He was without peer as an analyst and describer of the intricacies of American politics. I had the great pleasure to meet him when I was an undergrad in the 1960s, and had occasional personal contact with him in the ensuing years. He was modest, soft-spoken, intelligent, thorough, insightful and, above all, fair.