LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Tim Russert’s wife, Maureen Orth, has opened up about her life with and love for the NBC newsman, who died last week from a heart attack.

“Tim was so much fun to live with,” Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair, told People magazine. “And he was always thoughtful. Every single time he went out of town, he’d bring back the little chocolate they leave on the pillow for me.”

Orth said her husband was under a lot of stress in the weeks before he died.

He had recently made the decision to put his father, Tim Sr. in an assisted living facility.

“That was a huge psychological strain for him,” Orth told the magazine.

She also said the family’s vacation to Italy, a present for Tim’s son Luke, who had just graduated, was not easy.

“It was very hot and humid in Rome,” she said.

Tim however, bounded with energy on the trip.

“I was so tired,” she said. “I told him, ‘I don’t know how you do it.’”

Though devastated by his loss, the outpouring of love and support following Tim’s passing Orth said, has been touching.

“I had no idea Tim meant so much to so many people he didn’t even know,” Orth said.

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