Kenneth M. Duberstein — President Ronald Reagan’s last White House chief of staff and one of the most connected people in Washington — died Wednesday at age 77, his wife, Jackie Fain Duberstein, told me.
- Ken had been ill and recently retired from his firm, The Duberstein Group, which will continue with its young partners. He died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in DC.
Duberstein, a consultant to “The West Wing”, was a gregarious presence at Washington parties, network greenrooms, and New York boardrooms – forever beloved by the press for all the leaks he made during the Reagan years.
- When he and Jackie 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’ve always been hit by the fact that he like being Ken Duberstein. When I said that to Jackie last night, she said, “He did!”
Under Reagan, Duberstein was also Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief of Legislative Affairs. He had been Boeing’s longest-serving senior director, had served on other boards including Travelers, and was a leader at the Harvard Institute of Policy.
Kenneth Marc Duberstein was born in Brooklyn on April 21, 1944. He was survived by three children – Andy, Jeffrey and Samantha.
With a flair that her husband would appreciate, Jackie Fain Duberstein plans a funeral at the Washington Hebrew Congregation, with older statesmen as speakers.
- “If you don’t seize the moment,” she said to me, “you’re wasting the moment.”
Go further: Read his biography…History
