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| Cokie Roberts | |
Journalist and bestselling author Cokie Roberts, "who joined an upstart NPR in 1978 and left an indelible imprint on the growing network with her coverage of Washington politics before later going to ABC News," died September 17, NPR reported. She was 75. Roberts was one of NPR's "most recognizable voices and is considered one of a handful of pioneering female journalists--along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer and Susan Stamberg--who helped shape the public broadcaster's sound and culture at a time when few women held prominent roles in journalism."
Roberts was the author of six books, mostly recently Capital Dames: The Civil War and the Women of Washington, 1848-1868, which examined the role of powerful women in the Civil War era. Her other titles include Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation; Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation; We Are Our Mothers' Daughters; and From This Day Forward (with husband Steven V. Roberts).
Roberts "grew up walking the halls of Congress" as the daughter of Thomas Hale Boggs Sr., a former Democratic majority leader of the House who served in Congress for more than three decades before dying in a plane crash in Alaska in 1972, NPR noted. Her mother, Lindy Claiborne Boggs, took her husband's seat and served for 17 years, and also served as U.S. ambassador to the Vatican.
George Will, who worked with Roberts on ABC's This Week, said, "She liked people on both sides of the aisle and had friends on both sides of the aisle. If you don't like the game of politics, I don't see how you write about it well. She liked the game of politics and she understood that it was a game."
The New York Times reported that in a statement, Michelle and Barack Obama called Roberts "a trailblazing figure; a role model to young women at a time when the profession was still dominated by men; a constant over 40 years of a shifting media landscape and changing world, informing voters about the issues of our time and mentoring young journalists every step of the way."
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Charles Michael Collins, the long-time sales rep and a former co-owner of Como Sales, died Monday, August 26, at the age of 83 in Cary, N.C.
Collins was a life-long lover of books, movies, comics, toys and art. Before starting out as a publisher rep, his first job in the industry was as a bookseller at Imperial Bookshop in New York. Jock Moore, co-founder of Como Sales, was the one who brought him into the company, where he eventually became part owner.
Collins was an author and editor as well, and even put together a few anthologies for Avon, including the horror collections Fright, A Feast for Blood and A Walk with the Beast. Collins was also a publisher--in 1969, he co-founded Centaur Press with Donald Grant, which later became Centaur Books and was active until 1981. Primarily a paperback publisher, Centaur was especially known for its Time-Lost Series, which brought pulp adventure and fantasy novels back in print.
As a rep, Collins visited bookstores throughout New England, and he lived in Middle Village, Queens, N.Y., for much of his life.