David Richmond Gergen is an American political commentator and former presidential advisor who served during the administrations of Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton. He is currently a Senior Political Analyst for CNN and a Professor of Public Service and Director of the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School. Gergen is also the former Editor-at-Large of U.S. News and World Report and contributor to CNN.com and Parade Magazine. He has twice been a member of election coverage teams that won Peabody awards?in 1988 with MacNeil-Lehrer, and in 2008 with CNN. Gergen joined the Nixon White House in 1971, as a staff assistant on the speech writing team, becoming Director of Speechwriting two years later. He served as Director of Communications for both Ford and Reagan, and as a senior advisor to Clinton and Secretary of State Warren Christopher. As a commentator his admirers consider him an objective political voice because he has served in both Republican and Democratic administrations. He graduated with honors from Yale and Harvard Law School, and has been awarded 25 honorary degrees. 

May 9th, 1942 in Durham (Age 81)