Noted ex-Washington political reporter Martin Tolchin dies at 93

Martin Tolchin, a powerhouse Washington political reporter and 38-year member of the National Press Club, died of cancer at his home in Alexandria, Va., on Feb. 17 at the age of 93.

Tolchin was a regular fixture on Capitol Hill and at national political conventions during much of his 40-year career with the New York Times.  In 1982 he won the National Press Foundation's award for distinguished reporting of Congress.

After retiring from the Times in 1994, he joined fellow journalist Albert Eisele in starting The Hill, a weekly newspaper covering Capitol Hill in competition with the long-established Roll Call newspaper.  He and Eisele brought a high degree of professionalism to the new publication which became a launching pad for talented young journalists. 

Tolchin left the successful publication in 2003 but returned to the field in 2007 to help establish POLITICO, an expanded digital-age version of The Hill.

Tolchin chronicled his journalism career in a 2019 book, "Politics, Journalism and the Way Things Were." He and his wife Susan, who died in 2016, coauthored several books, including two particularly relevant to current controversies over moving U.S. assets abroad:  "Buying Into America" (1988) and "Selling Our Security" (1992).  

The Tolchins discussed two of their books at National Press Club events:  "Pinstripe Patronage: Political Favoritism from the Clubhouse to the White House and Beyond," and "A World Ignited: How Apostles of Ethnic, Religious, and Racial Hatred Torch The Globe."  They also co-authored a 1971 book on patronage titled "To the Victor" and a 1974 book about women entering politics called "Clout."

Tolchin also served as a senior scholar at the Wilson Center from 2014 to 2016.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Jewish Russian immigrants, Tolchin attended the University of Utah and earned a law degree from New York Law School before entering the U.S. Army during the Korean War.   He turned to journalism after declining to "name names" of liberal friends to enter the Bar Association during the McCarthy era.  

He started as a copy boy at the Times in 1954 and worked his way up to city hall bureau chief and congressional correspondent.

Survivors include his partner of five years, Barbara Rosenfeld;, a daughter, Kay Rex Tolchin, of Niwot, Colo.; and a grandson.  A son, Charles, died in 2003.