Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, died suddenly today of a heart attack. His colleagues on MSNBC are all in shock, saddened, and breaking down on the air. Tim had just turned 58 on May 7th — his Saturn was in Virgo and his second Saturn Return had just begun. As with the sudden death of Health Ledger last winter — we can’t blame Saturn for his death. Uranus or Mars are usually implicated in sudden events like this, and Pluto is often involved when it comes to death. But we can look to Saturn for evidence of some longer-term illness or problem that was ignored or undiagnosed. With Saturn in Virgo in particular, mind/body balance and downtime are vital.

Russert was known to be a hard worker, someone that rarely stopped to rest, and who never went out on a Saturday night so that he could wake up at 4 am on Sunday to prepare for Meet the Press. He only missed two shows a year. Ironically he had just returned early from a trip to Italy with his family to prepare for the Father’s Day episode of the show, which he had hosted since 1991. This is a very sad bit of breaking news to report. It will be hard to watch election returns this November without thinking of him gleefully jotting electoral votes on his wipe-off white-board until the wee hours. The man really seemed to love his work, something that is very important for Saturn in Virgo.

Just a thought for all of you born with your own Saturn in Virgo — please don’t feel alarmed that something bad is going to happen to you. Just make sure that you don’t overwork yourself, or allow your perfectionist tendencies to make you sick. It’s a wake up call to make health your first priority and to find time to relax.