Thousands of friends, colleagues and strangers joined President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, in paying respects on Tuesday to Tim Russert.

Bush, accompanied by the first lady, was one of the first people to enter the closed-casket wake, which was scheduled to last seven hours. The president stayed about 20 minutes while the growing crowd outside waited patiently on a pleasant, sunny day.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said that Bush wanted to pay his respects and offer his deepest sympathies to the Russert family.

Several hundred people were in line more than an hour before the early afternoon start of the wake at St. Albans School, an elite private boys school on the grounds of Washington National Cathedral in Northwest Washington. Many had never met the host of the Sunday-morning talk show "Meet the Press."

But some felt like they knew him, nonetheless.

"It's just like a family member that's gone," said Mary Jo Quinn, who had traveled from Russert's hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., to the Washington area for a wedding over the weekend. She and her husband extended their trip so they could attend the wake.

Russert, who was also the Washington bureau chief for NBC News, died Friday of a heart attack at the age of 58. His son, Luke, is a graduate of the school where the wake was held.

Since Russert's death, a steady stream of viewers has been leaving cards, flowers and personal mementos outside NBC's studios in northwest Washington, television station WRC reported.

Russert collapsed Friday as he was preparing to record voice-overs for Sunday's episode of "Meet the Press."

Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. MSNBC reported on its Web site that Russert’s physician, Michael Newman, said cholesterol plaque ruptured in an artery, causing sudden coronary thrombosis. An autopsy revealed that he also had an enlarged heart, Newman said.

Russert had been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, which he was controlling with medication and exercise, the doctor said.

Russert had just returned from Italy, where he was on vacation with his wife and son to celebrate his son's graduation from college.

"Tim was a man of many passions -- his family most of all, his faith, his country, political journalism, baseball and the Buffalo Bills," colleague Tom Brokaw said in a statement released Friday evening. "As a working class Irish-American with a Jesuit education his range was wide and deep -- from the sensibilities of blue-collar voters to the politics of the Vatican, from the power plays on Capitol Hill to the power plays on network television.

"Almost all of our conversations, and they went on every day, ended with some version of, 'Can you believe how lucky we are to be doing this?'"

Sunday's "Meet the Press" episode was a tribute to Russert hosted by Brokaw. Russert's chair was left empty on the set of the show that he hosted for 16 years.

"His voice has been stilled," said Brokaw. "And our issue this sad Sunday morning is remembering and honoring our colleague and our friend ...."

Brokaw and a half-dozen others were seated in front of the "Meet the Press" set and its angular table, left vacant, where Russert had presided as recently as last week.

Brokaw noted that Russert had a large wooden sign in his office that read: "Thou Shalt Not Whine," which Brokaw then supplemented with "Thou shalt not weep or cry this morning. This is a celebration."

After the show, Luke Russert walked up to his father's chair on the darkened set of the show, which he said was like his father's second child.

"This was the last time I'd see 'Meet the Press' in the way I know it," Luke Russert said. "I'm going to keep that chair forever. That's my chair now."

Luke Russert said he believes his father struck a chord with people from all kinds of backgrounds.

"I believe he saw himself as the questionnaire for the American people," he said. "He obviously did his job for himself, for his network, for his family. But, at his core, I believe he had a higher calling, a responsibility to educate the American people about the candidates that seek the highest office in the land."

A private funeral and memorial service for Tim Russert will be held on Wednesday. Russert's family has requested that the public respect their wishes by attending the public service on Tuesday and not the private service on Wednesday.