Deborah Orin-Eilbeck, the NYPost’s longtime D.C. bureau chief, died last night of cancer. The NYPost has the story here. I had always been a fan of her political reporting, and linked to several of her stories here over the years. We met at a Washington event a few years ago, and she was as warm and down to earth as I thought she would be. I had no idea she was ill, which makes the last e-mail she sent me that much more poignant.

In October, after I blogged about the campaign to help SPC Reid Stanley raise money to cover hospice care for his terminally ill wife, Ellicia (who died on New Year’s Eve), Deborah asked me to send her the Stanley family’s contact info. She wanted to let them know about a group that could help them with hospice care.

A tough-as-nails journalist with a caring heart. God bless her.

John Podhoretz pays tribute:

We weren’t friends, we were only colleagues, and not very close colleagues at that. But Debbie was the sort of person who would offer you aid and comfort at a moment’s notice and also the sort of journalist who always asked the right question at the right moment. Her profession is the lesser for her parting. More important, though, she is someone who will be remembered with fondness for the remainder of their lives by literally hundreds upon hundreds of people she worked with, for, and beside. And that’s a pretty great monument.

Post Editor-in-Chief Col Allan:

“Deborah was one of the nation’s finest political reporters. She was never part of press group-think that so often rules Washington.

“Common sense ruled her mind, not dogma. I will miss her advice, and The Post’s readers will miss her honesty and wisdom.”

Lucianne Goldberg:

Fair, funny, fierce and a force in journalism like no other.

Ldotters’ tribute thread here.

President Bush:

“Laura and I were saddened to learn of the death of Deborah Orin-Eilbeck,” President Bush said.

“Deb had a distinguished, decades-long career as a journalist, covering every presidential campaign since 1980 and joining the New York Post’s Washington bureau in 1988.

“Deb fought a valiant battle against cancer with the same tenacity, devotion, and determination that she brought to her work in the White House briefing room through numerous administrations,” the president said. “She’ll be missed by all of us at the White House who cared deeply for her.”

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