Andrew Breitbar, American publisher and political commentator, died from an apparent heart attack he was 43

Andrew James Breitbart  was an American entrepreneur, conservative publisher died from an apparent heart attack he was 43 ^[1] commentator for The Washington Times, media critic, journalist, author,^[2] and television and radio personality^[3][4][5] on various news programs, who served as an editor for the Drudge Report website.^[6] He was a researcher for and close friend of Arianna Huffington, and he helped create an early version of The Huffington Post.^[7]

After helping in the early stages of The Huffington Post and Drudge Report, Breitbart created his own website Breitbart.com, a news and right-wing opinion website, along with multiple other "BIG" sites - BIGHollywood, BIGGovernment, BIGJournalism. He played central roles in the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal, the firing of Shirley Sherrod, and the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy.^[8] Commenters such as Nick Gillespie and Conor Friedersdorf have credited Breitbart with changing how people wrote about politics.^[9][10]

( February 1, 1969 – March 1, 2012)

Breitbart was born in Los Angeles, California, on February 1, 1969.^[11] He was adopted son of Gerald and Arlene Breitbart, a restaurant owner and banker respectively, and grew up in the affluent neighborhood Brentwood, Los Angeles. He was adopted at three weeks old and raised Jewish.^[12] His biological parents had been Irish American.^[13] He said that his birth certificate indicated his biological father was a folk singer. His adoptive mother had converted to Judaism when marrying his adoptive father.^[14][15] Breitbart studied at Hebrew school and had a Bar Mitzvah.^[16] Theologically he was an agnostic.^[14]

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Breitbart attended Brentwood School, one of the country's top private schools, but did not distinguish himself, saying: "My sense of humor saved me".^[14] However, he discovered that he loved writing, publishing his first comedic piece in the school newspaper, the Brentwood Eagle, analyzing the inequality in his highschool's senior and junior parking lots: "One had Mercedes and BMWs, the other Sciroccos and GTIs.""^[14] Breitbart remembers his upbringing as apolitical, except in one instance: when the family's rabbi tried to defend Jesse Jackson against charges of antisemitism after his "Hymietown" comment, his parents left the synagogue in protest.^[14]

Breitbart would remain "proudly and playfully Jewish" throughout his life, although not always religiously observant. He would sing Hebrew songs at work while also teasing his Orthodox Jewish colleagues for keeping a kosher diet.^[17] Joel Pollak wrote: “He carried his faith as he carried all his convictions: with a lighthearted touch but a deep commitment.”^[17]Breitbart later said of his profession: "I'm glad I've become a journalist because I'd like to fight on behalf of the Israeli people... And the Israeli people, I adore and I love."^[17][18]

While in high school, Breitbart worked as a pizza delivery driver; he sometimes delivered to celebrities such as Judge Reinhold.^[19] He earned a BA in American studies from Tulane University in 1991, graduating with "no sense of [his] future whatsoever."^[20] His early jobs included a stint at cable channel E! Entertainment Television, working for the company's online magazine, and some time in film production.^[15]

Previously left-leaning in his politics, Breitbart changed his political views after experiencing "an epiphany" while watching the late 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. Breitbart later described himself as "a Reagan conservative" with libertarian sympathies.^[1]

Listening to radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh helped Breitbart refine his political and philosophical positions, igniting an interest in learning that he had suppressed as a result of his distaste for the "nihilistic musings of dead critical theorists"^[21]that had dominated his studies at Tulane. In this era, Breitbart also read Camille Paglia's book Sexual Personae (1990), a massive survey of Western art, literature and culture from ancient Egypt to the 20th century, which, he wrote, "made me realize how little I really had learned in college."^[21]

Breitbart was married to Susannah Bean, the daughter of actor Orson Bean and fashion designer Carolyn Maxwell, and had four children.^[7][50]

On the night of March 1, 2012, Breitbart collapsed suddenly while walking in Brentwood. He was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just after midnight.^[51][52] He was 43 years old. An autopsy by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office showed that he had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, with focal coronary atherosclerosis,^[53] and died of heart failure.^[54] He was buried in the Jewish plot at the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.

Unproven conspiracy theories have circulated about his death.^[55][56] The toxicology report showed, "No prescription or illicit drugs were detected. The blood alcohol was .04%. No significant trauma was present and foul play is not suspected."^[54] Bill Whittle, a friend of Breitbart, had said that Breitbart had a "serious heart attack" just months before his death.^[57]

In remembrance, Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, and Newt Gingrich praised Breitbart.^[58] Santorum called Breitbart's death "a huge loss" that strongly affected him.^[58][59] Romney praised Breitbart as a "fearless conservative," while Gingrich remembered him as "the most innovative pioneer in conservative activist social media in America".^[58] A special episode of Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld aired the day after his death as the host and panelists paid their tributes and showed clips from his appearances on the show.^[60]

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