Jay Monahan; Legal Analyst on Television

NEW YORK —  Jay Monahan, a lawyer and legal analyst for NBC News and the husband of “Today” show host Katie Couric, died of cancer Saturday. He was 42.

“We are deeply saddened by his death,” NBC said in a statement. “He was a valued member of the NBC News family and will be missed. Our hearts and prayers go out to his wife Katie Couric and their children.”

Monahan, who had worked for the network for the past two years--often appearing on MSNBC--underwent surgery for colon cancer on June 6.

Couric and Monahan married in 1989, a year after meeting in Washington. They have two daughters, Elinor, 6 1/2, and Caroline, 2.

“He was a great lawyer,” said Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz. “He was extremely perceptive. He had a blend of experience and real common sense. . . . He’ll be missed both in the practice of law and in the analysis of law.”

Former O.J. Simpson defense attorney Barry Scheck said Monahan was always well prepared for his television appearances.

“He never made a gratuitous or ill-informed comment,” Scheck said. “He really was a good model.”

A graduate of Washington and Lee University and Georgetown Law School, Monahan worked as a judicial clerk before joining the Washington firm of Williams and Connolly. Recently, Monahan worked for the New York office of Hunton and Williams.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete.