David Gergen answers a reporter’s question on June 7, 1993 at the White House briefing room in Washington.
Doug Mills/AP
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Doug Mills/AP
David Gergen, a Washington political veteran and advisor to four presidents in a decades-long career in government, academia and media, has passed away. He was 83 years old.
Gergen worked for the administrations of President Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Over the years, he served as a president’s speechwriter, communications director and counselor, among other roles.
Dean Jeremy Weinstein of Harvard Kennedy School said Gergen had a long relationship and that Gergen had died of a long illness. Gergen “dedicated decades to serving those who were trying to serve,” said Hannah Riley Bowles, former co-director of the school’s Public Leadership Center, where Gergen was founding director.
“David was a principled leader of unparalleled character, integrity and kindness, and chose to see good in everyone he met,” Riley Bowles said.
President Clinton listens to David Gergen at the Rose Garden press conference on Saturday, May 29, 1993.
J. Scott Apple White/AP
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J. Scott Apple White/AP
Algore, who served as Clinton’s vice president, said, “I posted on X of the Myriad Ways of David Gergen contributed to our great nation. What I remember was his kindness to everyone he worked with, his sound judgment, and his dedication to doing good in the world.”
According to a biography on the Harvard Kennedy School website, David Richmond Gergen was born in North Carolina and graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He continued to earn 27 honorary degrees in his career.
Gergen founded the Public Leadership Centre at Harvard Kennedy School and remained there until his death as a professor of public service honorary, according to the school’s website.
David Gergen, a professor of public services and director of the Center for Public Leadership, will speak on December 6, 2018 at Harvard Kennedy School at the Harvard University Institute of Political Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Charles Krupa/AP
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Charles Krupa/AP
After serving in the US Navy in the 1960s, Gergen won his first White House job in 1971, serving as Nixon’s speechwriting assistant. A colleague who paid testimony on social media on Friday said bipartisanship and collaboration were a hallmark of his long career.
He was also a media personality who worked as a senior political analyst at CNN. In his 2022 book Heart touched by fire: how great leaders are created, He writes: “Our great leaders have emerged from good times and more often challenging times. …The greatest of them make difficult calls that can ultimately change the course of history.”
Private burial is scheduled for Monday at Mount Auburn Cemetery, according to Mark Douglas, director of Douglas Funeral Home in Lexington, Massachusetts. Douglas said a larger additional service ceremony at Harvard will be held in the coming weeks.
