CBS News’ Mercader dies of virus

Maria Mercader, a CBS News producer who won an Emmy in 2004, died Sunday from coronavirus.

She was 54. Mercader (inset) had been on medical leave since late February, and spent decades battling cancer and related illnesses before her death at a New York hospital, the network said.

“Even more than her talents as a journalist, we will miss her indomitable spirit,” Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer, said in a statement. “Maria was part of all of our lives. Even when she was hospitalized — and she knew something was going on at CBS, she would call with counsel, encouragement and would say ‘you can do this.’ I called Maria a ‘warrior,’ she was. Maria was a gift we cherished.”

Mercader, who was born and raised in New York City, helped cover breaking news for CBS, including Princess Diana’s death and the 9/11 attacks. Her 2004 business-news Emmy was for a “Sunday Morning” piece on computer spam.

“Maria was one of the bravest, funniest and most supportive colleagues most of us have ever known,” Al Ortiz, CBS News vice president of standards and practices, said in a statement. “She was a woman of strong faith with a clear sense of right and wrong.”

She’s survived by her father and brother, both named Manuel.

At least half a dozen CBS employees have tested positive for coronavirus so far, as well as NBCUniversal chief executive Jeff Shell and Lucien Grainge, the chairman and chief executive of Universal Music.

Larry Edgeworth, a longtime NBC audio technician at the network’s 30 Rockerfeller Plaza headquarters in Midtown, died of coronavirus on March 18.