Bob Beckel, an American political analyst, died on February 21, 2022, at 73. Cal Thomas, a longtime friend and fellow journalist announced his death on Facebook, writing:
“My friend and spiritual brother, Bob Beckel, has gone to be with the Lord he loved.”
On Fox News, political analyst Sean Hannity also reported Beckel’s death, saying:
“He was constantly brimming with pleasure, happiness, light, and sunlight.” He adored God and Jesus, and we already miss him. God bless you and Bob Beckel.”
The reason for Beckel’s death has yet to be determined. He did, however, allegedly deal with addiction in the past. The host of The Five referred to himself as a “recovering junkie” on a 2011 show. Beckel was absent from Fox in 2015 due to “health-related difficulties,” according to Fox. Later, it was discovered that he had severe back surgery at a New York hospital.
A look back at Bob Beckel’s life.
Bob Beckel was a Fox News political analyst, columnist, and commentator best known as a former co-host of The Five. On November 15, 1948, in Connecticut, he was born to Ellen Gilliland and Cambridge Graham Beckel Jr. In 1968, the news anchor graduated from Wagner College on Staten Island and began working for Robert F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Between 1971 and 1972, he was a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines.
Before joining the US Department of State in 1997, Beckel was a graduate school professor of politics at George Washington University. He held the job until 1980 when he became the Carter administration’s youngest deputy assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. The analyst served as campaign manager for Walter Mondale’s presidential campaign in 1984 and founded the consulting business Bob Beckel & Associates that year. He also oversaw Alan Blinken’s campaign for the United States Senate in Idaho in 2002.
Beckel joined Fox News in 2011 as a co-host of The Five, where she featured in over 700 episodes. In 2015, he was fired from the program due to health difficulties. CNN recruited him as a political pundit the following year. The media personality returned to The Five in 2017 but was fired by the Fox network owing to an alleged racially insensitive slur directed at another employee. Between 2005 and 2015, he was affiliated with USA Today, where he worked as a writer with close friends and political opponent Cal Thomas.
Beckel talked about his difficulties with alcoholism and near-death experiences caused by addiction in his novel I Should Be Dead: My Life Surviving Politics, TV, and Addiction, which was released in 2015. Following the news of Beckel’s death, many individuals flocked to Twitter to pay their respects to the political expert. As online condolences come in, it is clear that Beckel will be missed by his family, friends, colleagues, and well-wishers. His previous wife, Leland Ingham, and their two children survive him.
