JUDY WOODRUFF: Today, family,
friends, our "NewsHour"
family, past and present, said

goodbye to our
co-founder Jim Lehrer.

He died last week at age 85.
There was a memorial held today
at the National United Methodist

Church in Washington,
D.C. It was a lovely
and touching service.

Here are just a few moments.

LEE CULLUM, Journalist: Of
course, everybody loved Jim
Lehrer. We all loved Jim Lehrer.

And I think the reason
is this. He certainly,
for me, confirmed
something I have always

believed, or wanted to
believe. And that is that
nice guys finish first.

Let's just say he was
disciplined, without
overdoing it. He was
ambitious without avarice.

He was gifted without guile.
He was a golden boy who had no
goose to lay golden eggs for

him. But he was self-made.
He was. And he was
never self-conscious.

ROGER ROSENBLATT, Author: He
loved the lives of others. He
was devoted to the lives of

strangers.

If you heard Jim's end of a
conversation with someone, you
couldn't tell whether he was

speaking to a Supreme Court
justice or to the kid who
parked cars at the restaurant,

so democratic was his mind
and his soul, and so genuine
was his interest in others.

JAMES RUSSELL LEHRER NASH,
Grandson of Jim Lehrer: We
were all sitting around in the

kitchen, when he got up and
told my brother, sister, and I
that he was going to teach us

how to march like Marines.

(LAUGHTER)

JAMES RUSSELL LEHRER NASH:
We jumped up immediately
and started to follow him.

He shouted out his march cadence
as we trailed behind him in
as straight of a line as three

kids could manage, which
isn't very straight.

And I remember stretching my
legs and listening intently to
try and match his stride. Being

7 years old, when I realized I
couldn't match him perfectly,
I started to jump around and

fall out of line. But
he continued to march
with my siblings in
circles until I fell back

into step.

While this may feel like such
a small moment, as I look back
on it, it exemplifies perfectly

how generous my grandfather
was with his time.

MARY GRAHAM, Author: Each
Jim decision was a family
decision. Time to buy a house? A

family consensus would
be required. Moderate
a presidential debate?
Wait a day until I

consult with Kate and the girls.

This is a side of Jim the world
didn't see, the creative work
that mattered most to him,

as Kate's partner in building
this strong and enduring family.

(MUSIC)

JUDY WOODRUFF: It was
a beautiful service
for a beautiful man.

And before we go tonight, we
also wanted to take a little
time to hear from some of the

producers and correspondents
who worked alongside
Jim for decades and
at the earliest stages

of this program.

Here are a few of their
thoughts about Jim, his
values and his legacy.

LINDA WINSLOW, Former Executive
Producer, "PBS NewsHour":
I met Jim in 1972, and the

first thing I noticed
about him were his eyes.

I think his eyes were the
secret to his success. They were
honest eyes. And they said: You

can trust me.

JIM LEHRER, Co-Founder and
Former Anchor, "PBS NewsHour":
To criticize you personally,

is that a crime?

LINDA WINSLOW: It didn't matter
who Jim was interviewing. It
didn't matter what the color

of their skin was. It didn't
matter where they went to
school. It didn't matter how

much money was in
their bank account.

What mattered was what that
person, that unique individual
had to say. And when he turned

those big brown eyes on you
and asked you what was usually
a very simple question, you

tried very hard to be as
open and honest with him
as he had been with you.

I think that's why he was
such a great interviewer and
also such a great friend.

JIM LEHRER: Good
evening. I'm Jim Lehrer.

On the "NewsHour" tonight...

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT, Special
Correspondent, "PBS NewsHour":
He taught by example, so I

learned to watch him. And one
of the things I learned from
him was that you could have

a list of prepared
questions, but you had to
listen to the person who
was being interviewed.

And so, if they said something
you hadn't anticipated, you
had to figure out how to

pick up on that, because it
might have been more important
than the question you asked.

ANNETTE MILLER, Vice President,
NewsHour Productions: It was our
job to present all sides of the

issue, even the shades of gray.
He taught me the objectivity
of not picking a horse

in the race.

Sometimes, when I was
with friends, they would
mock me, saying, you
treat journalism as some

kind of priesthood. And
I thought about that.
And I said, they were
right, because I learned

it from the high priest himself.

JIM LEHRER: The uprising is
the catalyst that has brought
this situation to wherever it

is right now. Would
you not agree?

MAN: I would say that's true.

DAN WERNER, Former President,
MacNeil/Lehrer Productions:
Jim Lehrer knew what he wanted.

From the start, he and Robin
had a sense of the program
they wanted to create, and the

"NewsHour" was a reflection of
what he wanted and who he was.

Jim wasn't going to let
anything get in the way of his
journalism, as he defined it and

as he wanted to give it
to the American people.

JIM LEHRER: If I hear the two
of you correctly, neither one
of you is suggesting any major

changes in what you want to
do as president as a result of
the financial bailout. Is that

what you're saying?

BARACK OBAMA, Former President
of the United States: Well, no,
there are going to be things

that end up having to
be deferred and delayed.

JIM LEHRER: Like what?

MARGARET WARNER, Former Foreign
Correspondent, "PBS NewsHour":
Jim was a hard man to persuade.

But if you had earned his trust,
he was willing to roll the
dice. One of Jim's great gifts

as a newsman was that he
knew when a story was right
and when it wasn't it.

In early January '11, when
protests started breaking out
in the Arab world, our overseas

reporting unit was totally out
of money for the fiscal year.

Nevertheless, I walked down
the hallway to his office a
few days into it, and I said:

"Jim, I know we're short of
money. I think these protests
just starting out could really

transform, certainly
the Middle East, and the
world as we know it."

He asked a couple of
questions, and then he gave his
characteristic, "I hear you."

I went back to my office. And
half-hour later, word came,
get ready to leave for Egypt in

the next 36 hours.

NELSON MANDELA, Former
South African President:
I stand here before you.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: The
one time I got a little nervous
about Jim's reaction was

when F.W. de Klerk announced
he was going to release Nelson
Mandela. This was back in

1990.

And I'd already made
reservations to go to
South Africa. And Jim
said, well, the only

way he would approve it
is if we could guarantee
an interview with Mandela.

Well, I guess it was Jim
Lehrer in my blood, because
I said, "I will get it."

And, sure enough, we flew
to South Africa, and we
got the only one of two
half-hour interviews

with Mandela.

Did they do things to you that
made you feel like a prisoner?

NELSON MANDELA: Oh, yes.

JIM LEHRER: House Speaker
Foley predicted a budget
deal by the weekend.

MARGARET WARNER: We called
ourselves the "NewsHour" family.
And it really was a family.

And in a time of personal crisis
for any of us, there was no
more empathetic friend than

Jim Lehrer.

DAN WERNER: Jim cared about
me. He cared about my family. I
took ill in the 1990s, and Jim

visited me almost every
day in the hospital.

MARGARET WARNER: When my husband
was diagnosed in the early
stages of a crippling disease,

I was devastated.
I went to see him.

And he said: "First of all,
take all the time you want.
Now let's see what we can do to

help you."

Within days, I was connected
to some of the top medical
people in this field.

JIM LEHRER: And to our new
senior correspondent Gwen Ifill.

Welcome, Gwen.

GWEN IFILL, Former
"PBS NewsHour"
Co-Anchor: Thanks, Jim.

LINDA WINSLOW: He wasn't
afraid of strong women. He was
surrounded by them at home,

his wife, Kate, and their
three beautiful daughters. And
he actually pushed very hard

to add more women and people of
color to the "NewsHour" team,
because he believed strongly

that diversity is what
makes the world go around.

CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT: He and
Robin used to say we do news
that can be used by people

to make their own decisions.
He trusted people's
intelligence and intellect.

And I think that's something we
need to learn from even today.

ANNETTE MILLER: Jim
was a great friend to
have. He's exceedingly
smart and very funny.

I know how lucky I was to
find a boss and a friend like
Jim so early in life. It was

a rare and precious gift.

JUDY WOODRUFF: We're so thankful
to hear from all of these
friends and former colleagues.

Jim truly was our North Star
here, and we miss him so much.