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

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goodbye to our
co-founder Jim Lehrer.

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

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

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Here are just a few moments.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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strangers.

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

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

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

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

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

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how to march like Marines.

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(LAUGHTER)

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

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

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kids could manage, which
isn't very straight.

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

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

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

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into step.

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

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how generous my grandfather
was with his time.

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

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

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consult with Kate and the girls.

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

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

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(MUSIC)

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

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

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

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of this program.

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

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

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first thing I noticed
about him were his eyes.

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

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can trust me.

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

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is that a crime?

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

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

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much money was in
their bank account.

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

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

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

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

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

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On the "NewsHour" tonight...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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in the race.

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

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

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it from the high priest himself.

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

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is right now. Would
you not agree?

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MAN: I would say that's true.

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

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

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

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

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as he wanted to give it
to the American people.

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

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

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what you're saying?

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

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that end up having to
be deferred and delayed.

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JIM LEHRER: Like what?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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the next 36 hours.

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

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

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

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1990.

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

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

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

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

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with Mandela.

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

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NELSON MANDELA: Oh, yes.

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

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

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

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Jim Lehrer.

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

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visited me almost every
day in the hospital.

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

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I was devastated.
I went to see him.

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

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help you."

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

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

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Welcome, Gwen.

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

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

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

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

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that diversity is what
makes the world go around.

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

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

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

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

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

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a rare and precious gift.

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

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