WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tony Snow, a conservative writer and commentator who cheerfully sparred with reporters in the White House briefing room during a stint as President Bush's press secretary, died Saturday of colon cancer. He was 53.

"America has lost a devoted public servant and a man of character," President Bush said in a statement from Camp David, where he was spending the weekend. "It was a joy to watch Tony at the podium each day. He brought wit, grace, and a great love of country to his work."

Snow died at 2 a.m. at Georgetown University Hospital, according to former employer Fox News.

Snow, who served as the first host of the television news program "Fox News Sunday" from 1996 to 2003, would later say that in the Bush administration he was enjoying "the most exciting, intellectually aerobic job I'm ever going to have."

Snow was working for Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio when he replaced Scott McClellan as press secretary in May 2006 during a White House shake-up. Unlike McClellan, who came to define caution and bland delivery from the White House podium, Snow was never shy about playing to the cameras.

With a quick-from-the-lip repartee, broadcaster's good looks and a relentlessly bright outlook -- if not always a command of the facts -- he became a popular figure around the country to the delight of his White House bosses.

He served just 17 months as press secretary, a tenure interrupted by his second bout with cancer. In 2005 doctors had removed his colon and he began six months of chemotherapy. In March 2007 a cancerous growth was removed from his abdominal area and he spent five weeks recuperating before returning to the White House.

"All of us here at the White House will miss Tony, as will the millions of Americans he inspired with his brave struggle against cancer," Bush said.

Snow resigned as Bush's chief spokesman last September, citing not his health but a need to earn more than the $168,000 a year he was paid in the government post. In April, he joined CNN as a commentator.

As press secretary, Snow brought partisan zeal and the skills of a seasoned performer to the task of explaining and defending the president's policies. During daily briefings, he challenged reporters, scolded them and questioned their motives as if he were starring in a TV show broadcast live from the West Wing.

Critics suggested that Snow was turning the traditionally informational daily briefing into a personality-driven media event short on facts and long on confrontation. He was the first press secretary, by his own accounting, to travel the country raising money for Republican candidates.

Although a star in conservative politics, as a commentator he had not always been on the president's side. He once called Bush "something of an embarrassment" in conservative circles and criticized what he called Bush's "lackluster" domestic policy.

Most of Snow's career in journalism involved expressing his conservative views. After earning a bachelor's degree in philosophy from Davidson College in North Carolina in 1977 and studying economics and philosophy at the University of Chicago, he wrote editorials for The Greensboro (N.C.) Record, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk.

He was the editorial page editor of The Newport News (Va.) Daily Press and deputy editorial page editor of The Detroit News before moving to Washington in 1987 to become editorial page editor of The Washington Times.

Snow left journalism in 1991 to join the administration of the first President Bush as director of speechwriting and deputy assistant to the president for media affairs. He then rejoined the news media to write nationally syndicated columns for The Detroit News and USA Today during much of the Clinton administration.

Roger Ailes, chairman of Fox News, called Snow a "renaissance man."

Robert Anthony Snow was born June 1, 1955, in Berea, Ky., and spent his childhood in the Cincinnati area. Survivors include his wife, Jill Ellen Walker, whom he married in 1987, and three children.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

Davidson College released this statement Saturday on the passing of Tony Snow:

Former Presidential Press Secretary Tony Snow, who died Saturday morning, was an outstanding 1977 graduate of Davidson College who remained engaged with the college throughout his professional career. Davidson presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002 when he attended his class’s 25th reunion.

Davidson College President Thomas W. Ross offered condolences to Snow’s wife, Jill, and the couple’s three children. Ross said, “Tony was one of our most outstanding alumni and we are proud of all he accomplished and contributed as a journalist and government servant during his much too brief time with us. Even after his national success and fame, he returned often to the campus and was always accessible and willing to assist his alma mater.”

Ross continued, “Personally, Tony was a kind and thoughtful man. Even while fighting his courageous battle against cancer, he took the time to telephone me on my first day of work to express his good wishes and his continued commitment to Davidson. Tony was always available to help and support others no matter what the circumstances. He will be greatly missed by those of us who were privileged to know him.”

Snow majored in philosophy at Davidson, and made a strong impression on his political philosophy professor, Lance Stell. Stell recalled, “He really was a remarkable student,” Stell said. “As a matter of fact, he's the only student who has ever challenged me to a debate. And it wasn't just a fly-by-night idea. He followed up on it, secured a venue, and we had it. He assigned me to argue against the viability of libertarianism, and he argued for it. He was passionately interested in political philosophy, and believed deeply that people's political beliefs had real meaning in the world.”

Snow was a great admirer of the substance and style of the late Professor Emeritus of Philosophy George Abernethy. In 1997 Snow wrote a syndicated Media General national column about his time as a pupil in Abernethy's class, “Once you got in George's thrall, you stayed,” Snow wrote. “He enticed students with lectures of rare pith and energy. I did something for him I've never done before or since. I raced back to my room and reworked my notes to preserve as much as possible.”

Snow kept in touch with both Abernethy and Stell after college, and considered Abernethy a mentor/tutor. Snow wrote in his column, “He (Abernethy) read editorials and columns as meticulously as my old term papers. He suggested books and articles. He asked questions and displayed curiosity that was both flattering and daunting.”

Snow was a very active Davidson student, and was named to both the Omicron Delta Kappa campus leadership honor society and to “Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities.” His peers elected him president of his senior class. He also won the college's Vereen Bell Creative Writing Award, won a filmmaking award, and was elected to the Delta Sigma Rho honor society for debate. He was a member of the Eumenean Literary Society, played in the Pep Band, and served as a hall counselor for first year students. He debated and exchanged philosophical ideas in late night rap sessions, co-authored an underground newspaper that never quite made it to press, and was famous for playing Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” on his flute.

“The Tony Snow I knew at Davidson in the 1970s was an astute thinker and a talented writer,” said Charles Cornwell, then an associate professor of English at Davidson. “His exuberance in the honest exchange of ideas was contagious. With his splendid sense of humor—always predicated on the follies of humankind but never censorious—he could charm and disarm the most obstinate opponent. Tony encouraged all of us who knew him to relish every moment of the life allotted to us. I shall miss him.”

His service as a Davidson alumnus included hosting an admission reception at his home shortly after graduation, representing Davidson at a Washington-area College Fair in 1985. He spoke at Davidson several times during his professional career. He delivered a keynote address during Homecoming 1999, and judged an English department writing competition that year. He spoke in 2002 when he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award, and was last on campus in April 2007, when he again spoke to students and alumni during Alumni Reunion Weekend.

Throughout his career as a syndicated columnist, television and radio journalist, and presidential speech writer and press secretary, Snow built a following of fans who appreciate his thoughtful style and courteous manner. Stell noted that he was consistent in that attribute since Davidson. “He always refused to take cheap shots in discussions,” Stell said. “The ideas were important to him, rather than making other people look bad. He was someone the college could well be proud of. He has always represented our influences well, and if we can claim any impact on him, that's to our credit.”

Davidson is a highly selective independent liberal arts college for 1,700 students located 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. Through The Davidson Trust, the college became the first liberal arts institution in the nation to replace loans with grants in all financial aid packages, giving all students the opportunity to graduate debt-free. Davidson competes in NCAA athletics at the Division I level, and a longstanding Honor Code is central to student life at the college.