Former White House Press Secretary Tony Snow’s July 17 funeral is reviving memories among journalists who worked with him, including your “Freedom of Expression” blogger, a former White House correspondent.

When President Bush brought Snow into public service from his lucrative career at Fox News, I remember being concerned that a journalist from a conservative network was going to view the “liberal media” only in adversarial terms. But at the same time, there was also excitement that someone with many years in journalism would understand our need for information beyond the repetitive talking points on which his predecessor, Scott McClellan, relied.

First impressions were reassuring and disarmingly funny. One of Snow’s first official acts was to return the morning informal press briefing known as the “gaggle” to its traditional home in the press secretary’s West Wing office. As his office became crammed to capacity and his desk was buried in a small mountain of stacked recording devices, he quickly realized why the gaggles had moved to the much larger briefing room. Snow’s reaction: “This is a mess!”

I also appreciated Tony’s “bupkis list,” from a Yiddish term meaning “nothing.” When he didn’t know the answer, he didn’t fake it or dismiss the question. He’d turn to his staff and say “put it on the bupkis list” to be followed up on, an act I saw not only as personal modesty but also respect for our professional needs . Snow came directly from the news media with a special understanding of our need for answers.

He had his critics, especially when he sparred with reporters as if he was still a news show host. Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin described Snow’s briefing style in 2007 as an effort to “win the half hour.”

From his first day at the White House, the cancer that eventually killed Snow lurked in the background. The press secretary, who had survived a prior occurrence, wore a yellow “live strong” bracelet. When a reporter asked about the bracelet during Snow’s first briefing, the jocular tone suddenly shifted and Snow had to take a moment to compose himself before answering.

“[J]ust having gone through this last year … was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said. “I lost a mother to cancer when I was 17, same type — same type, colon cancer. And what has happened in the field of cancer since then is a miracle.”

As a cancer survivor “I feel every day is a blessing,” he said.

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