Robin Toner, NYT reporter, dead at 54

by Frank James

It was with profound sadness that we learned today of the death of Robin Toner of the New York Times, one of Washington's most respected political reporters, following a lengthy battle with cancer.

Toner was one of those solid reporters best described as authoritative. When you read her stories, which was often if you read the NYT front and national pages, you came away believing you had learned something important from someone who truly understood what had happened.

Todd Purdum writes this of Robin who was the first woman to become the national political reporter for the Times:

In a career of nearly 25 years at The Times, and in an age of increasing specialization, Ms. Toner reported authoritatively on almost every domestic issue, whether it was taxes, welfare, Social Security, immigration or health-care policy.

In 1992, Ms. Toner was The Times's lead reporter on the election of Bill Clinton, a rollicking campaign in which her tough-minded coverage helped set the pace for other reporters. A few years later, after marriage and motherhood made long months on the campaign trail less practical for her, she became chief of correspondents on the paper's national desk in New York, coaching reporters in bureaus around the country in their coverage of state legislatures, budget deficits (or surpluses) and assorted scandals, crises and crimes.

She later returned to the Washington bureau, where she held the title of senior writer, and covered a wide range of issues, including abortion rights, racial justice and judicial nominations, with a special feel for Southern politics.

"When you watched her work -- relentless on the phone, gnawing her fingernails to the nub, a perfectionist on the keyboard -- you'd think: a workhorse, not a showhorse," said Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times. "Then you'd read the result and it would be elegant. She was one of the best."

That is not just the mere speaking kindly of one who has passed on. She, indeed, was one of the best.

American journalism is poorer today with her loss.

Many of us who met her on the presidential campaign trail or around town covering the news will keep her before us as a beacon of what to strive towards.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to her and to her family, especially her husband Peter Gosselin, our colleague in the Tribune Washington Bureau, and her twins, age 11, Nora and Jake. We grieve with you.