Mark Knoller, CBS White House correspondent and historian, dies at 73

Mark Knoller, the longtime CBS News White House correspondent renowned for keeping meticulous records of presidential activity, died Saturday in Washington, D.C. He was 73, the network said. A close friend and officials said the cause of death was not disclosed; Knoller had been in ill health and suffered from diabetes.

Knoller built a career that combined reporting with an obsessive attention to detail. Born Feb. 20, 1952, in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from New York University and began as an intern and copy boy at WNEW Radio, rising to weekend reporter. He joined the Associated Press Radio Network in 1975 and moved to CBS News in 1988 after a meeting with producer Susan Zirinsky. He served as an assignment editor briefly before becoming the network's White House correspondent for CBS Radio, a role he held until leaving the network in 2020.

He earned a distinct reputation inside the White House press corps as an unofficial presidential historian and statistician. Frustrated by the absence of a central database documenting presidents daily activities, Knoller said he "keeps a daily log of everything the president does," listing speeches, domestic and foreign travel,...