Gergen worked in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — David Gergen, a seasoned figure in Washington politics and an adviser to four presidents throughout a career that encompassed government, academia, and media, has passed away at the age of 83.
Gergen held positions in the administrations of Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. His roles included speechwriter, communications director, and counselor to the president, among others.
Dean Jeremy Weinstein of the Harvard Kennedy School, with which Gergen was closely associated, announced that Gergen died following a prolonged illness. Hannah Riley Bowles, a former co-director of the school’s Center for Public Leadership, where Gergen served as the founding director, remarked that Gergen “devoted decades of his life to serving those who sought to serve.”
“David was a principled leader of unmatched character, integrity and kindness, who chose to see goodness in every person he met,” Riley Bowles said.
Al Gore, who served as Clinton’s vice president, posted on X, “Of the countless ways that David Gergen contributed to our great country, what I will remember him for most was his kindness to everyone he worked with, his sound judgment, and his devotion to doing good in the world.”
David Richmond Gergen was born in North Carolina and graduated from Yale University and the Harvard Law School, according to a biography on the Harvard Kennedy School website. He would go on to receive 27 honorary degrees over the course of his career.
Gergen founded the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and remained there as professor of public service emeritus until his death, according to the school’s website.
After serving in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, Gergen took his first White House job in 1971, serving as a speechwriting assistant for Nixon. Bipartisanship and collaboration were hallmarks of his long career, said colleagues who paid testimonials on social media Friday.
He was also a media personality who worked as a senior political analyst for CNN. In his 2022 book “Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders are Made,” he wrote: “Our greatest leaders have emerged from both good times and, more often, challenging ones. … The very finest among them make the difficult calls, that can ultimately alter the course of history.”
A private burial is scheduled for Mount Auburn Cemetery on Monday, said Mark Douglass, director of Douglass Funeral Home in Lexington, Massachusetts. A larger memorial service at Harvard will be held in the coming weeks, Douglass said.
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