BREAKING! CBS Executive Dead fro COVID-19

Some sad news to report on this Sunday.

Maria Mercader, a career journalist at CBS News who had a hand in much of the network’s coverage of foreign and domestic breaking news for three decades and lately helped shape talent strategy for the News Division, died today from the Covid-19 coronavirus in a New York hospital.

She had been on medical leave for an unrelated matter since the last week in February.

“Even more than her talents as a journalist, we will miss her indomitable spirit,” said Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president and senior executive producer. “Maria was part of all of our lives. Even when she was hospitalized – and she knew something was going on at CBS, she would call with counsel, encouragement, and would say ‘you can do this.’ I called Maria a ‘warrior,’ she was. Maria was a gift we cherished.”

She was 54 and lived in Manhattan.

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