Mark Knoller, a veteran CBS News White House correspondent who covered five presidents over a three-decade career, has passed away.
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CBS News announced Knoller’s death on Saturday. The outlet reported that a close friend said he died in Washington, D.C. The cause of death was not disclosed, but he had diabetes and was in poor health.
Knoller was 73.
“Friends and colleagues remember Knoller as a legend,” CBS News wrote on Instagram. “For decades, everyone in the White House press corps knew him as the unofficial presidential historian and statistician,” the outlet added.
“Mark Knoller was the hardest-working and most prolific White House correspondent of a generation,” Tom Cibrowski, president and executive editor of CBS News, added. “Everyone in America knew his distinctive voice and his up-to-the-minute reporting across eight Presidential administrations.”
Mark Knoller Kept a Detailed Log of the President’s Daily Activities, Including Golf Outings…
Knoller kept a detailed record of the president’s daily activities. This log included speeches, travel, and golf outings to make up for the absence of a central database.
“I keep a daily log of everything the president does,” Knoller once explained, via CBS News. “I keep a list of speeches; I keep a list of travel — foreign travel, domestic travel. A list of outings; A list of golf; A list of pardons, vetoes, states that he’s visited, states that he hasn’t visited. Every time he goes on vacation, every visit to Camp David.”
As a CBS Radio correspondent, Knoller worked late into the night and shared his detailed log with reporters, historians, and White House aides.
Born on February 20, 1952, in Brooklyn, New York, Knoller always aspired to be a reporter. After graduating from New York University, he started as an intern and copy boy at WNEW Radio in New York. He later became a weekend reporter. In 1975, he joined the Associated Press Radio Network as a reporter, where he worked for over a decade.
I join many colleagues of the White House press corps to honor the life of a great newsman and a good man, Mark Knoller. He was a legend of our community. Mark of CBS News created the most impressive archive of presidential facts that truly serves history. He shared his… pic.twitter.com/if66kTle8D
— Kelly O'Donnell (@KellyO) August 30, 2025
In 1988, CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky brought him on board as the assignment editor for the network’s Washington Bureau. However, his passion for reporting made it difficult for him to stay behind the scenes, ultimately driving him to pursue his “dream” role as White House correspondent for CBS Radio.
During his career, Knoller reported on the final year of President George H.W. Bush’s term, both terms of Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, as well as the first term of President Donald Trump.
In his final years at CBS (which he left in 2020), as vocal issues emerged, he shifted from radio to Twitter, becoming a trusted source on the platform.