Columnist Bob Novak reported to have brain tumor

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Political columnist Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor and is being treated in a Massachusetts hospital, the newspaper which syndicates his column said on Monday.

"I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period," the 77-year-old writer said in the Chicago Sun-Times.

It said the diagnosis was made on Sunday after he fell ill at a family gathering in Massachusetts and he was taken to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for treatment.

In July 2003 Novak caused a stir when he blew the cover of a CIA officer, Valerie Plame, whose husband Joseph Wilson had criticized the Iraq war.

An investigation into who leaked Plame's name later resulted in Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, being convicted of lying and obstructing the probe.

Last week Novak hit a pedestrian on a Washington street with his car but did not stop immediately and later said he was unaware he had hit the man.

(Reporting by Michael Conlon; editing by Andrew Stern)