After a long struggle with a brain tumor, complicated by his advanced age, Washington fixture and conservative icon Robert Novak has died at 78 years of age.  Novak was the co-founder of the widely read Evans-Novak Political Report back in 1967, and was respected throughout the District for his incredible inside knowledge of Washington politics, and his often grim and self-depricating sense of humor.

Novak became known as "The Prince of Darkness" early on in his career, after veteran journalist John Lindsay concluded that Novak "took a very dim view of the prospects for our civilization."  Novak embraced the moniker, using it as the title of his memoirs in 2007.

He began his career as a political correspondent for the Association Press following a tour of duty in the Korean War.   He joined the D.C. bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1958, and became the chief congressional correspondent just three years later.  He teamed up with Rowland Evans to create the bi-eponymous weekly newletter that was published until earlier this year.  He and Evans both joined CNN as political analysts, and Novak continued to appear on-air until his brain cancer diagnosis in 2008.  He was a primary panelist on three major CNN shows, including Crossfire, Evans and Novak, and Capitol Gang.  He was a frequent guest on Inside Politics.

Despite his reputation as a staunch conservative, Novak spent much of his life as a registered Democrat, adamantly supporting the presidencies of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson (his wife, in fact, served as a secretary to the latter).  He tended more toward small government, low-tax conservatism in the years following Nixon as well as during Reagan's tenure.

Novak was no stranger to controversy throughout his career.  Prior to the 1972 election, he published an article citing an unnamed Democratic Senator who confided in him that once Middle America learned that Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern was for "amnesty, abortion, and acid," he'd be finished, a line that the McGovern campaign was never able to successfully and definitively refute (Novak revealed that the quote came from none other than McGovern's initial running mate, Thomas Eagleton, after Eagleton died in 2007).  Novak was also responsible for publishing Valerie Plame's identity and status as an undercover CIA agent, sparking one of the most notable scandals of the George W. Bush White House.

Novak was 78 years old.