Cokie Roberts, pioneer broadcasting journalist who covered highest levels of US government, died Tuesday in Washington at the age of 75.
ABC News said the cause was breast cancer, which she was first diagnosed with in 2002.
Born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs was born in New Orleans on December 27, 1943.
She came from a political family. Roberts’ mother, Lindy Boggs, won a special election for her late husband’s seat in 1973.
Roberts started her career at CBS and then worked for NPR, covering Capitol Hill. She joined ABC in 1988.
She won multiple awards during journalism career, and she was recognized by the American Women in Radio and Television as one of the 50 greatest women in the history of broadcasting.
Roberts also became an author, wiritng several books on the role of women in US history, including the works: “Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation;” “We Are Our Mothers’ Daughters;” and “Captial Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868.”
The reporter and commentator was respected for encouraging “all of us Republicans and Democrats, to always seek consensus where we could,” tweeted Eric Swalwell.
“We are quick to criticize and slow to praise,” Roberts said in 1994 in a commencement address at Boston College.
ABC News President James Goldston called Roberts, an award-winning political commentator and author, “a true pioneer for women in journalism.”
In addition to her husband, she is survived by a daughter, journalist Rebecca Roberts; a son, Lee; and several grandchildren.