Ken Duberstein obit

Ken Duberstein, Reagan chief of staff, dies at 77

 

He was not on the list.

Kenneth M. Duberstein — final White House chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan and one of Washington's most connected people — died Wednesday at 77, his wife, Jackie Fain Duberstein, tells me.

Ken had been ill and retired recently from his firm, The Duberstein Group, which will continue with his younger partners. He died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C.

Duberstein, a consultant to "The West Wing," was a gregarious presence at Washington parties, in network greenrooms and in New York boardrooms — forever beloved by the press for all the leaking he did during the Reagan years.

When he and Jackie were married in 2003, the officiant was Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Duberstein had been the sherpa for Souter's confirmation. The music? Marvin Hamlisch.

I was always struck by the fact that he loved being Ken Duberstein. When I told Jackie that last night, she said: "He did!"

Under Reagan, Duberstein also was deputy chief of staff and was head of legislative affairs. He had been Boeing's longest-serving lead director, had been on other corporate boards, including Travelers, and was a leader at Harvard's Institute of Politics.

He was still on the Brookings board, was an honorary trustee of the Kennedy Center and was an emeritus trustee of his alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College, in Pennsylvania.

Kenneth Marc Duberstein was born in Brooklyn on April 21, 1944. He is survived by four children — Jennifer, Andy, Jeffrey and Samantha.

With a flair her husband would relish, Jackie Fain Duberstein plans a funeral at Washington Hebrew Congregation, with elder statesmen as speakers.

"If you don't grab the moment," she told me, "you lose the moment."

Duberstein began his public service on Capitol Hill as an intern for Senator Jacob K. Javits. His other early government service included Deputy Under Secretary of Labor during the Gerald Ford administration and Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. General Services Administration.

During Reagan's eight years in office, he had two stints in the White House. His first was as Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs (1981–1983). His major accomplishment of this period was pushing Reagan's economic agenda through a Democratic House of Representatives, including the 1982 Tax Bill. Duberstein was described as Reagan's invisible link to Congress. He was at the center of the Administrations push for the bill, working on both sides of the political divide. His second stint was also for two years, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and then for the final six months of the Reagan presidency as White House Chief of Staff (1988–1989). Eight days after Reagan was on TV and acknowledged the Iran–Contra affair, Duberstein took over as chief of staff. Around that time, it was revealed that Nancy Reagan had used an astrologer to determine dates for the president's public appearances. Reagan's presidency had reached a low point; approval rating was at 37%. His promotion was called a wake-up call for a "drowsy White House". He came to the job with energy, loyalty, hard work and enthusiasm, having earned the nickname Duderdog; and he made sure to call Nancy twice a day. He had Reagan give a mea culpa address to the nation; poll numbers went right up and the presidency had been turned around.

Duberstein is said to have been the first Jewish person to be White House Chief of Staff.