Bill Plante was one of the great ones. Whenever I would see him, I’d pepper him with questions about all of the phenomenal reporting he’d done over the years - especially in Vietnam and during the course of the civil rights movement. He always obliged and through those chats I was able to glean lessons from a master journalist. The last time I saw him, I mentioned that I’d love to share a bottle of claret upon my next visit to Washington and to hear a few more war stories. “It would be my pleasure,” he said ever the gentleman. We never got the chance - but I’m grateful to him for the times that he did spare a moment to impart his wisdom or to simply share an anecdote from a monumental career.