WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Mark Knoller, a CBS News correspondent who was best known for covering the White House for decades, has died. He was 73. 

CBS News reported on his death Saturday, but said a cause was not released and he had been suffering from diabetes and was in “ill health.”

“Mark Knoller was the hardest-working and most prolific White House correspondent of a generation,” Tom Cibrowski, president and executive editor of CBS News, said in a statement. “Everyone in America knew his distinctive voice and his up-to-the-minute reporting across eight Presidential administrations.”

Those administrations included the last year of President George H.W. Bush’s term and both terms of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He also covered Trump’s first term before leaving CBS News after over 30 years. 

Knoller worked as a CBS News editor and radio reporter from 1988 until 2020. 

He started his career as an intern at WNEW Radio in New York, then became a weekend reporter for the radio station. He went on to become an Associated Press Radio Network reporter in 1975 until 1988, when he scored his dream job as a White House correspondent for CBS Radio, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

He was considered a “legend” among the White House corps for his work as an unofficial presidential statistician, according to Variety. 

He kept near “encyclopedic records” about every presidential act, movement, and utterance after being frustrated there was no central database containing the information, CBS News reported. They credit his work for “single-handedly filling an immense void in American history.” 

Knoller shared his work with reporters, historians and “White House aides filling gaps in their own administration’s records,” CBS News reported. 

Some reports say his voice was failing toward the end of his career, prompting him to start reporting on White House happenings on X, formerly Twitter. There, he amassed nearly 300,000 followers. 

Reporters from news organizations across the country took to social media Saturday to remember their former colleague. 

“RIP to a legend of Washington journalism, and an icon of the White House press corps,” wrote ABC Audio reporter Steven Portnoy. “I was honored to sit in Mark’s briefing room seat for several years. It was always HIS seat.

“He was a legend of our community,” wrote NBC News correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, “Mark of CBS News created the most impressive archive of presidential facts that truly serves history. He shared his knowledge with kindness. Rest well my friend.”

“Mark was one-of-a-kind,” wrote NPR and CBC correspondent Steve Futterman. “An amazing and dedicated news person who did not suffer fools gladly. Those were all good traits for a great reporter.”