Andrew Breitbart Dead at 43

“Mild-mannered family guy. Husky male model. “

Unexpectedly, from —natural causes?

Fox News reported that he collapsed while walking near his home in Brentwood, and he has a history of heart problems… that’s all we know as of yet. I am shocked, and devastated…I had the opportunity to see him again, a few weeks ago at CPAC, and he was so full of life with two movies about to be released – Occupy Unmasked, and Hating Breitbart. He also made the announcement that he had some shocking video of Obama from his college days that he was going to release at an unstated time.

Here is the entire announcement from Big Government:

Andrew passed away unexpectedly from natural causes shortly after midnight this morning in Los Angeles.

We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior.

Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love.

Andrew recently wrote a new conclusion to his book, Righteous Indignation:

I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and—famously—I enjoy making enemies.

Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I’ve lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I’ve gained hundreds, thousands—who knows?—of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night.

Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us.

***

Media inquiries: jpollak@breitbart.com

Rest in peace, Andrew Breitbart. Thoughts and prayers go out to him, his friends and family. He will be sorely missed by many.

As you can imagine, tears are flowing, and tongues are wagging, this morning. You can follow the discussion on Twitter, here.

I’ll be looking for my favorite Breitbart videos to put up, later today.

MORE:

Michelle Malkin has published some of the hate tweets that are already appearing on Twitter. Conservatives are retweeting with gusto, just as Andrew would have liked it.

Blaze: Jonah Goldberg Breaks Down During Fox Interview Moments After Breitbart News Hits

Pat Dollard: Watch Andrew Breitbart’s Final TV Appearance On Piers Morgan Tonight

WebProNews: Matt Drudge Shares His Grief on the Death of Andrew Breitbart

Publius Forum: RIP, Andrew Breibart

Newsbusters: Media Still Getting It Wrong About Andrew Breitbart and Shirley Sherrod

Dan Riehl: Andrew Breitbart Loves Today

Peter Ingemi: Essay: Remembering Andrew Breitbart

Breitbart TV: Rush Remembers Breitbart

Breitbart TV: Greg Gutfeld Reacts To Breitbart’s Death

Breitbart TV: Fox News Remembers Breitbart

The Other McCain: R.I.P., Andrew Breitbart: Innovative Genius of New Media Dies at Age 43

Matthew Boyle , The Daily Caller: Andrew Breitbart: Warrior, friend, mentor

The Conservatory: Behind the Quarrel Between Beck and Breitbart

IowaHawk: Andrew Breitbart, 1969-2012

The Lonely Conservative: RIP, Andrew Breitbart – Updated

Zilla: A Great American Hero Has Died

Melissa Clouthier: Andrew Breitbart: R.I.P. Happy Warrior– speaking for many: “I wish he was still here. There’s too much work to do. Who will do it? Who will do it like Andrew? Someone will have to do the work, but no one will do it like Andrew.”

Ace: Breitbart’s CPAC Speech:

The left makes all of his arguments for him. All Breitbart had to do was add two letters: “RT” [re-tweet].

The left had a chance to prove Andrew Breitbart wrong today.

Instead, they proved him right. Even in death, Andrew Breitbart makes the stupid hate-bag puppets dance for his amusement, and for ours.

I thought at first his death was a punking. In a way, it is. He continues punking the left into exposing exactly what it is.

Ace: That About Wraps It Up For David Frum:

Andrew Breitbart died today. But he took David Frum’s last shred of credibility with him.

UPDATE:

More on the circumstances surrounding his death via Fox News:

Breitbart was walking near his house in the Brentwood neighborhood shortly after midnight Thursday when he collapsed, his father-in-law Orson Bean said.

Someone saw him fall and called paramedics, who tried to revive him. They rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said. Breitbart had suffered heart problems a year earlier, but Bean said he could not pinpoint what happened.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s devastating,” Bean told The Associated Press.

Those who knew and worked with him described Breitbart almost uniformly as “fearless,” sharply intelligent, witty and devoted to his work.

“He was the modern conservative iteration of a 1960s radical,” conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg told Fox News, minutes after Breitbart’s death was reported.

“When I say he was the most fearless guy I ever knew, it really is true. I mean, he truly loved the fight,” he said.

UPDATE II:

Lot’s of people are linking to Andrew’s CPAC speech. Here it is, I said he was always a crowd favorite, and he was. I just loved the guy:

Here’s video I took myself of his speech at Smart Girl Summit in St Louis, last summer.  He had driven down with his 12 year old son from Grand Rapids where he was on vacation with his family:

After lunch on one of the days, Andrew Breitbart took questions from the smart girls.

Breitbart crashes Rep. Weiner’s press conference:

This is classic Breitbart from September 2010, exposing the hatred, ignorance and hypocrisy of the left:

Andrew Breibart’s speech at the 9/12 rally in DC: Calling out the Media:

Video: Andrew Breitbart Addresses Uni-Tea Rally In Philly – Watch in three parts at the link.

Breitbart Exposes the “N” Word Lie On Hannity: (April, 2010):

Video: Andrew Breitbart Rocks The Washington DC Tea Party: (April 2010)

Video: Andrew Breitbart’s SRLC Speech:

This video from March 2010, is a classic: Andrew Breitbart Gets Waylaid By Egg-Throwing Moonbats On The Way To Searchlight:

Video: Andrew Breitbart’s CPAC Speech, (Feb 2010) In two parts at the link.

Video: Andrew Breitbart vs Salon’s Max Blumenthal At CPAC: “You are a despicable human being – you are the lowest life form that I’ve ever seen…Your entire job is trying to destroy people with Alinsky tactics….”

Andrew Breitbart takes on Maddow, leftist academia and “post-modernism” at CPAC:

Andrew Breitbart introducing Sarach Palin at the Nashville Tea Party, Feb 2010 tells  MSM: “It’s not your business model that sucks, it’s you that sucks.”