 Charles Krauthammer |
Charles Krauthammer, the Fox News commentator whose career in journalism started at The New Republic and included a Pulitzer for articles he wrote for the Washington Post, revealed in a letter to co-workers, friends and Fox News Channel viewers that he is in the final stages of a losing battle with cancer.
Krauthammer has been away from his post at Fox’s “Special Report” for nearly a year while battling an abdominal tumor and subsequent complications. He believed until recently that he was recovering, but tests showed that the cancer had returned.
“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,” he said in his letter. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.”
Krauthammer graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1975 despite a first-year diving accident that left him a quadriplegic. Before joining the staff of The New Republic, he directed planning in psychiatric research under the Carter administration and served as speechwriter for vice president Walter Mondale.
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of Fox News and its parent company, 21st Century Fox, said Krauthammer has played a key role in the channel's success. "His words, his ideas, his dignity and his integrity will resonate within our society and within me for many, many years to come," Murdoch said.
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