Dan Eggen, a Washington Post editor for nearly three decades, has been found dead at his home. He was 60 years old.
The Post reported that Eggen, who worked on three Pulitzer Prize-winning projects and shaped the D.C. outlet’s White House, Congress, and presidential politics, was found dead on Tuesday. His former wife, Stephanie Armour, confirmed his death. The cause of death is pending an autopsy, but law enforcement believes no foul play was involved.
Eggen played a key role in the outlet’s winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for its investigations behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and the network behind it. Later he was later a major editorial influence in the paper’s reporting on the alleged Russian election interference during the 2016 presidential election as well as the January 6, 2021, protests.
Matt Murray, the Post‘s executive editor, said in a newsroom announcement that Eggen was a “sharp editor with a keen story sense.” He added that “Dan was involved in hiring, editing and mentoring dozens of politics writers across the years” and that Eggen’s “news muscle and instincts were integral to our coverage.”
The Post wrote:
While covering the Justice Department in 2001, Mr. Eggen helped examine the financing and organization of the terrorist cells that flew hijacked airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Northern Virginia.
Less than three weeks later, he and Post journalist Bob Woodward wrote: “U.S. investigators have determined that at least four of the 19 suspected hijackers were trained at camps in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden, whose al Qaeda network is believed responsible for the assaults on New York and Washington.”