Maureen Orth

Maureen Orth is an award winning journalist and Special Correspondent for Vanity Fair. She began her career as one of the first women writers of Newsweek. She was born in Berkeley, California and is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley. She received her Masters Degree in Journalism and Documentary Film from UCLA. She served in the Peace Corps in Medellin, Colombia 1964-66 where she helped build a school named after her, Escuela Marina Orth. She is the founder of the Marina Orth Foundation in Colombia which provides technology, English and leadership training in 14 schools for over 8,000 students. In 2015, President Juan Manuel Santos awarded her the Order of San Carlos, Colombia's highest civilian honor for outstanding service to the country. Orth wrote 7 cover stories for Newsweek, among them Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Godfather II, Bruce Springsteen, and John Denver. Orth is known for her investigative pieces on celebrities. She has written five pieces on Michael Jackson, 1994-2003, Tom Cruise and Scientology, 2012, two on Woody Allen, 1992, 2014. She has also profiled a number of heads of state for Vanity Fair including Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel, and former First Lady of France, Carla Bruni. In 2014, Orth profiled Taylor Swift for InStyle magazine and in December, 2015 wrote the best selling National Geographic cover, The Virgin Mary, the Most Powerful Woman in the World. Orth was married to the late Tim Russert, Washington Bureau Chief and Moderator of Meet the Press and is the mother of Luke Russert, former NBC News correspondent.