Political journalist Cokie Roberts dead at 75

Veteran journalist Cokie Roberts — who grew up surrounded by politics, then used her experience to become one of the country’s most insightful commentators — has died, her family said Tuesday.

The female trailblazer, 75, succumbed to breast cancer, ABC reported.

“Cokie’s career as a journalist at National Public Radio and ABC News took her to the heights of her profession, and her success as an author on history and family put her on the best seller list,’’ her family said in a statement. “But her values put family and relationships above all else.’’

Roberts was an Emmy-winning journalist whose intelligence, wit and ability to translate complicated issues won her legions of fans. She also authored eight books.

Roberts was born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs, but her older brother couldn’t say her chosen first name, Corinne, so he called her Cokie instead — and the moniker would become a household name for her generation.

James Goldston, president of ABC News, called Roberts “a true pioneer for women in journalism.”

She was “well-regarded for her insightful analysis of politics and policy in Washington, DC, countless newsmaking interviews, and, notably, her unwavering support for generations of young women — and men — who would follow in her footsteps,’’ he said in a statement.

A few years ago, Roberts said she felt lucky just to be able to do her job.

“It is such a privilege — you have a front seat to history,” she told Kentucky Educational Television in 2017 of her politics beat.

“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.”

Roberts — who wed college sweetheart and fellow journalist Steven Roberts in 1966 — acknowledged that she was battling health issues recently.

“Over the summer, I have had some health issues which required treatment that caused weight loss. I am doing fine,” she said in a statement at the time. “I very much appreciate the kind comments I have received and expect to be, as I have been, working away in the days and months to come, covering what promises to be a fascinating election.’’

When Roberts was first diagnosed with cancer 15 years ago, she said the disease was discovered by a mammogram.

“Fortunately, in the course of my efforts to inform others about the disease, I learned about the benefits of early detection,” she said, according to the Washington Post. “Now I am the beneficiary of that information.”

But Roberts said she took the diagnosis in stride — given what her family had been through.

She was the daughter of Hale Boggs, a US representative from Louisiana who died in an Alaska plane crash in 1972. Roberts’ mother, the late Lindy Boggs, replaced her father in Congress after his death.

Roberts also lost her beloved sister, former Princeton, NJ, Mayor Barbara Boggs Sigmund, to cancer in 1990. Sigmund, who was 51, suffered from malignant melanoma, which had cost her her left eye years earlier, prompting her to wear a pirate patch.

“I had a healthy perspective on life already,” Roberts told the Washington Post after her own cancer diagnosis.

“I have always cared more about family than my career. I lost my father at age 58 in a terrible accident, and I lost my sister at age 51. So I didn’t need any extra perspective on life.”

Roberts leaves behind her husband and their two adult children, Lee and Rebecca, and other relatives.