Howard Fineman, veteran political journalist and former MSNBC analyst, dies at 75

Veteran political correspondent Howard Fineman, who spent three decades covering the corridors of power in Washington for Newsweek before becoming an analyst for MSNBC and other outlets, died after a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, his wife announced Tuesday.

Fineman, who was 75, died Monday at his home in Washington.

"I am heartbroken to share my brilliant and extraordinary husband passed away late last night surrounded by those he loved most, his family," Amy Nathan posted on her husband's account on X (formerly Twitter). "He couldn't have been adored more. The world was a better place because he lived in it and wrote about it."

Born Nov. 17, 1948 in Pittsburgh, Pa., Fineman joined Newsweek in 1980 and quickly began building a reputation as one of the nation's most astute observers of the Beltway scene.

From his perch at what was then one of the most widely read newsweeklies in the U.S., Fineman covered presidents and political players and gave his readers a look behind the scenes on Capitol Hill where the decisions that affect their lives were being made.

Fineman left Newsweek in 2010 for The Huffington Post (now HuffPost), where he became senior politics editor and later global editorial director.

In addition, Fineman became an analyst for MSNBC and a frequent guest on “Hardball With Chris Matthews,” "The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell" as well as "The Rachel Maddow Show."

Fineman also became a familiar face to the several generations of television viewers who tuned in to to watch other political news shows like PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” and CNN’s “Capital Gang Sunday.”

A pundit par excellence, Fineman was known his wit and his encyclopedic knowledge of politics from having covered the