40 | DECEMBER 23 • 2021 

C

okie Roberts, tele-
vision commenta-
tor and nonfiction 
author, valued the observance 
of Catholic ritual while also 
adding Jewish traditions into 
the lives of her family and 
friends — all along exploring 
the celebratory possibilities of 
her interfaith marriage.
Husband Steven Roberts, 
also a journalist as well as a 
media professor, wrote and 
delivered her 2019 eulogy 
and filled it with personal 
stories — way beyond reli-
gion — that were not widely 

known. Soon afterwards, 
hearing positive comments 
from those who heard the 
remembrance, he decided 
that her dramatic public 
achievements joined with her 
caring private actions merited 
a book. 
Cokie: A Life Well Lived 
(HarperCollins) is divided 
into anecdote-filled chapters 
with comments from those 
who knew her best — the 
famous and those in the 
background. While there are 
sections covering her tele-
vision work and nonfiction 

book projects (including 
Founding Mothers, From 
This Day Forward, Our 
Haggadah), there is consider-
able space recalling enduring 
people connections, philan-
thropic commitments and 
cross-cultural religious obser-
vances.

“The public Cokie has been 
well known for many years 
and was, for generations, a 
marvelous role model for 
young women and girls who 
could hear her on the radio 
and watch her on TV and say 
[they could be that smart and 
strong],” said Roberts, often 
her co-author and still teach-
ing at George Washington 
University, serving as chief 
political analyst for ABC 
radio and writing book 
reviews for the Washington 
Post. “That was a great legacy 
in and of itself. 
“What was not known 
before this book, I think, was 
the private Cokie and the 
fact that this was a woman 
who, despite her eminence 
and time demands, found 
time every single day to do 

ARTS&LIFE
BOOKS

Her husband’s new book shares 
stories of their interfaith marriage 
and life together.

The Real 
COKIE 
ROBERTS

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“NOT EVERYBODY CAN BE A TV OR 
RADIO STAR, BUT EVERYBODY CAN 
BE A GOOD PERSON, AND EVERY-
BODY CAN LEARN SOMETHING 
FROM THE WAY SHE LIVED HER 

LIFE AND THE PRIORITIES SHE SET.”

— STEVEN ROBERTS

Steven 
Roberts

