(JTA) — Andrew Breitbart, a conservative Internet publisher who was the first to show an explicit photo that former Rep. Anthony Weiner sent from his Twitter account, has died.
Breitbart, the publisher of several conservative news and commentary websites, including BigGovernment.com and BigJournalism.com, died early Thursday morning "of natural causes," his websites announced. He was 43.
He reportedly collapsed shortly after midnight while walking near his home in the affluent Brentwood section of Los Angeles. He had heart problems a year ago.
It was BigGovernment.com that showed the photo of Weiner, a New York Democrat. The photo and ensuing revelations about Weiner’s personal life led to the veteran lawmaker’s resignation from Congress.
Breitbart reportedly had plans to launch a BigJerusalem website focused on Israel.
He was adopted by parents who raised him Jewish.
“Andrew was always a proud Jew,” Joel Pollak, Breitbart.com’s editor in chief and inhouse counsel, told the Forward newspaper in an e-mail.
