New Orleans native, Emmy award winner and national political journalist Cokie Roberts died in Washington earlier today from breast cancer complications. She was 75.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002 and is survived by her husband Steven and their two children.

Roberts worked at CBS and PBS before her decades-long role as a congressional reporter at ABC News and her series of New York Times bestselling books focusing on feminism and the history of women in power.

Roberts worked for ABC News and NPR for decades, covering the family business: politics.

Her father, Hale Boggs, served as the House majority leader and her mother, Lindy Boggs, later replaced him in office as the first woman elected to Congress from Louisiana.

Loyola University President Tania Tetlow worked for Lindy Boggs’ congressional office as a teenager and became a close family friend of Roberts.

Roberts spoke at Tetlow’s inauguration last year, a moment that Tetlow said will stay with her.

“In addition to being a world-class journalist, Cokie was a remarkable human being.  Her intelligence was a marvel.  Her sense of history absolute, because she grew up in the center of it.  Her laugh could light up a room.  She never let go of her New Orleans roots and came home whenever asked to support the city,” Tetlow said. “Like her mother, she was my mentor and my friend.  She made all the difference in my life, supporting me and believing in me.  I cannot describe how much the world will miss her, how much I will miss her.  This is a hard day.”

Rose Wagner contributed to this report