Sept. 17 (UPI) — Cokie Roberts — an award-winning journalist, political commentator and author whose career spanned five decades — died Tuesday of complications from breast cancer. She was 75.
Born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs in New Orleans in 1943, she received the nickname “Cokie” from her older brother who couldn’t pronounce Corinne when they were children. She won three Emmy Awards and contributed to two of the three major U.S. networks, as well as PBS and National Public Radio.
“We will miss Cokie beyond measure, both for her contributions and for her love and kindness,” her family said in a statement Tuesday.
“Cokie was — first and foremost — a wife, mother, sister, daughter, aunt, cousin and friend.”
Roberts joined ABC News in 1988 and was co-anchor of This Week for six years, and continued at the network as its chief congressional analyst. Her first major network stop was CBS News, where she was a reporter between 1974 and 1977. She previously was part of local newsrooms at WNEW-TV in New York City and KNBC-TV in Los Angeles.
“Cokie Roberts will be dearly missed,” ABC News President James Goldston said. “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.”
Roberts survived a breast cancer diagnosis in 2002, but it re-emerged this summer and caused her to lose significant weight.
Goldston said Roberts was a “true pioneer for women in journalism” and provided “unwavering support for younger generations of young women — and men — who would follow in her footsteps.”
Her husband, Steven Roberts, is also a journalist and the couple have two children and six grandchildren.
Roberts is remembered for her reporting for NPR in 1978, when she covered the Panama Canal Treaty. She was also a correspondent for PBS’ MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour and worked as the public broadcaster’s senior news analyst.
Tuesday, NPR President and CEO Jarl Mohn said her “signature voice and commentary” became a familiar presence in American homes.
Roberts also wrote eight books that mostly focus on the role of women in U.S. history.
