David Gergen, adviser to four presidents, dies at 83

David Gergen, a veteran of Washington politics and an adviser to four presidents from both parties, has died. He was 83.

Gergen died on Thursday, his son Christopher confirmed to CBS News.

Gergen's career in politics spanned decades, working in the administrations of former Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Over the years, he served as a speechwriter, communications director and counselor to the president, among other roles. He also served as a prolific media commentator.

Dean Jeremy Weinstein of the Harvard Kennedy School, with which Gergen had a long relationship, told the Associated Press that Gergen died of a long illness. Gergen "devoted decades of his life to serving those who sought to serve," said Hannah Riley Bowles, a former co-director of the school's Center for Public Leadership, where Gergen was the founding director.

"David was a principled leader of unmatched character, integrity and kindness, who chose to see goodness in every person he met," Riley Bowles told the AP.

Al Gore, who served as Clinton's vice president, posted on X, "Of the countless ways that David Gergen contributed to our great country, what I will remember him for most was his kindness to everyone he worked with, his sound judgment, and his devotion to doing good in the world."

David Richmond Gergen was born in North Carolina and graduated from Yale University and the Harvard Law School, according to a biography on the Harvard Kennedy School website. He would go on to receive 27 honorary degrees over the course of his career.

Gergen founded the Center for Public Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School and remained there as professor of public service emeritus until his death, according to the school's website.

After serving in the U.S. Navy in the 1960s, Gergen took his first White House job in 1971, serving as a speechwriting assistant for Nixon. Bipartisanship and collaboration were hallmarks of his long career, said colleagues who paid testimonials on social media Friday.

He was also a media personality who worked as a senior political analyst for CNN. In his 2022 book "Hearts Touched with Fire: How Great Leaders are Made," he wrote: "Our greatest leaders have emerged from both good times and, more often, challenging ones... The very finest among them make the difficult calls, that can ultimately alter the course of history."

In 2022, the then 79-year-old Gergen spoke with "CBS Sunday Morning," where he expressed alarm about the state of American democracy.

"We can't continue on the path we're on; it's unsustainable," he said. "It has the sense that we're, like, in a car, at midnight, on the edge of a cliff, with rain falling, and no headlights."

A private burial is scheduled for Mount Auburn Cemetery on Monday, said Mark Douglass, director of Douglass Funeral Home in Lexington, Massachusetts. A larger memorial service at Harvard will be held in the coming weeks, Douglass said.