USA TODAY International Edition
Cokie Roberts commanded great respect
Trailblazing journalist Cokie Roberts, whose Emmy- winning career earned her top- tier journalism awards, including the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism, has died. She was 75.
“Our dear friend and colleague Cokie Roberts passed away this morning in Washington, surrounded by her family and closest friends,” ABC News President James Goldston said in a statement.
“She will be dearly missed. Cokie’s kindness, generosity, sharp intellect and thoughtful take on the big issues of the day made ABC a better place and all of us better journalists,” Goldston said.
Roberts died of complications from breast cancer, according to a statement from her family.
“We will miss Cokie beyond measure, both for her contributions and for her love and kindness,” her family said in a statement.
In 2002, Roberts announced she was being treated for breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy in the weeks before going public about her disease.
The veteran journalist and political commentator, born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs in New Orleans, was the daughter of Lindy and Hale Boggs, both Democratic representatives from Louisiana. She worked at CBS Radio and National Public Radio as a Capitol Hill correspondent while beginning her ABC career as a contributor for “This Week With David Brinkley.” She became the network’s chief congressional analyst while anchoring “This Week With Sam Donaldson” from 1996 to 2002.
Roberts was NPR’s congressional correspondent for more than 10 years and was a roundtable analyst for “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”
She also was the author of several best- selling books. Her most recent title, “Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington,” was published in 2015.
She is survived by her husband of 53 years, journalist Steven Roberts; her children, Lee and Rebecca; and her grandchildren, Regan, Hale and Cecilia Roberts and Claiborne, Jack and Roland Hartman.