Veteran journalist Cokie Roberts has died at the age of 75. She helped shape NPR in the 1970s and 1980s before joining ABC News in 1988.
She died on Tuesday, September 17, from complications from breast cancer, according to a family statement obtained by NPR.
Cokie was born in 1943 in Louisiana. Both of her parents, Lindy and Hale Boggs, represented Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her mother won a special election for her father’s seat after he died in a plane crash in Alaska. Cokie grew up in and around Congress, splitting her time between Washington and Louisiana as a child. Her parents’ careers inspired her to become a political journalist.
Cokie attended Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Her first job was at WRC-TV in Washington, where she hosted a show called Meeting of Minds. After she married husband Steven V. Roberts, the couple moved to Athens, Greece, where she worked as a freelance journalist while he wrote for the New York Times.
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When they returned to Washington in 1977, she joined NPR. Cokie served as NPR’s congressional correspondent for the next ten years and helped build the network into a political powerhouse alongside other women at the network.
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She left in 1988 to become a correspondent on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. She would also fill in on Nightline. Cokie coanchored the Sunday morning show This Week from 1992 to 2002.
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Throughout her time at ABC, she retained a part-time role as a political commentator at NPR, where she continued to contribute until her death.
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Cokie wrote six books. Most recently she published 2015’s Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. Two of her books were co-written with her husband. She also won an Emmy award in 1991.
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Cokie reflected on her long career in a 2017 interview. She told Kentucky Educational Television, “It is such a privilege — you have a front seat to history.”
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She continued, “You do get used to it, and you shouldn't, because it is a very special thing to be able to be in the room ... when all kinds of special things are happening.”
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Photo credit: AP/Shutterstock
After news of her death broke, journalists and colleagues left their condolences on Twitter.
Katie Couric wrote, “She was a pioneer for so many and will be sorely missed.”
When they returned to Washington in 1977, she joined NPR. Cokie served as NPR’s congressional correspondent for the next ten years and helped build the network into a political powerhouse alongside other women at the network.
Photo credit: AP/Shutterstock
She left in 1988 to become a correspondent on ABC’s World News Tonight with Peter Jennings. She would also fill in on Nightline. Cokie coanchored the Sunday morning show This Week from 1992 to 2002.
Photo credit: Globe Photos/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
Throughout her time at ABC, she retained a part-time role as a political commentator at NPR, where she continued to contribute until her death.
Photo credit: Carolyn Kaster/AP/Shutterstock
Cokie wrote six books. Most recently she published 2015’s Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868. Two of her books were co-written with her husband. She also won an Emmy award in 1991.
Photo credit: Mike Stone/EPA/Shutterstock
Cokie reflected on her long career in a 2017 interview. She told Kentucky Educational Television, “It is such a privilege — you have a front seat to history.”
Photo credit: Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock
She continued, “You do get used to it, and you shouldn't, because it is a very special thing to be able to be in the room ... when all kinds of special things are happening.”
Photo credit: Matt Rourke/AP/Shutterstock
After news of her death broke, journalists and colleagues left their condolences on Twitter.
Katie Couric wrote, “She was a pioneer for so many and will be sorely missed.”
Photo credit: AP/Shutterstock