Fox News’ Bob Beckel, Original Cohost of The Five, Dead at 73

Bob Beckel, a former political operative-turned-Fox News personality, has died at the age of 73. A cause of death has not been disclosed.

Beckel joined the United States Department of State in 1977, becoming the youngest deputy assistant secretary of state in the Jimmy Carter administration. Then in 1984, he served as campaign manager for presidential hopeful Walter Mondale (who lost to incumbent Republican president Ronald Reagan).

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In 2002, Beckel was selected as campaign manager for Idaho senate hopeful Alan Blinken, but was forced to resign when he was targeted for extortion by a prostitute. That same year, he made a cameo on the Season 8 premiere of Fox’s 24, where he appeared in a mock debate opposite Fox News analyst Monica Crawley.

In 2011, Beckel made his debut as one of the original co-hosts of Fox News’ The Five. He was first let go in 2015 after he entered rehab for substance abuse. At the time, EVP of programming Bill Shine released a statement on behalf of the network, writing: “We tried to work with Bob for months, but we couldn’t hold The Five hostage to one man’s personal issues.” Beckel would go on to chronicle his years-long battle in his 2015 memoir, “I Should Be Dead: My Life Surviving Politics, TV, and Addiction.”

Later that year, Beckel was hired as a CNN political commentator, weighing in throughout the 2016 election. He departed the network less than two years later to return to The Five, but was again fired just five months later after he reportedly made an insensitive remark to a Black employee.

The Five‘s Dana Perino was among the first to pay tribute to Beckel on Tuesday, tweeting a photo of the two of them alongside the caption, “RIP Bob Beckel. What memories I have of our friendship.”

He is survived by his two children.

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