Roberts, Cokie, 1943-2019

Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs; born December 27, 1943, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.; died September 17, 2019 (aged 75),
Washington, D.C., U.S.; received the nickname Cokie from her brother, Tommy, who, as a child, could not pronounce her given name, Corinne; parents were Lindy Boggs and Hale Boggs, each of whom served for decades as Democratic members of the House of Representatives from Louisiana; Her sister, Barbara, became mayor of Princeton, New Jersey and a candidate for the United States Senate. Her brother, Tommy, became a prominent attorney and lobbyist in Washington, D.C.; graduated from Wellesley College in 1964, where she received a BA in Political Science; Roberts' first job in journalism was at WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., where she was host of its weekly public affairs program Meeting of the Minds; Roberts began working for National Public Radio (NPR) in 1978, where she was the congressional correspondent for more than ten years; she has been called one of the "founding mothers of NPR"; Roberts was a contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the evening television news program The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Her coverage of the Iran-Contra Affair for that program won her the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting in 1988; Roberts went to work for ABC News in 1988 as a political correspondent for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, continuing to serve part-time as a political commentator at NPR; Roberts was married to Steve, a professor and fellow journalist, from 1966 until her death; They resided in Bethesda, Maryland. They had two children. Their daughter, Rebecca, is a journalist and was one of the hosts of POTUS '08 on XM Radio