Maria Carla Mercader (November 28, 1965 – March 29, 2020) was an American journalist and

news producer {{refimprove, date=October 2008 The news producer takes all the elements of a newscast (packages, video, graphics, etc.) and compiles them into a cohesive show. In the hierarchy of the newsroom, the news producer is under the executive producer, wh ...

who worked for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

for over three decades. For her work producing a CBS feature report about computer spam, Mercader won a business

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2004. In 2020, she died of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during its pandemic in New York City.

Early life

Mercader was born on November 28, 1965, in New York City to Manuel and Gladys Mercader. She studied at

Dominican Academy Dominican Academy is an American Catholic college preparatory school for girls, located on the Upper East Side of the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. It was founded by the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs (now Domin ...

, then at the

College of New Rochelle The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York, but also in Australia, England, and Germany. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline ...

, where she graduated in 1987.

Career

Mercader started working for CBS News in 1987 as a page in the company's page program, then began her news career at

CBS Newspath CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', ''60 Minutes'', and '' 48 Hou ...

, where she produced pieces for distribution at CBS' affiliates. She also worked on the network's foreign and national news desks, helping to produce breaking news pieces on the

death of Princess Diana In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died from injuries sustained earlier that day in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Dodi Fayed, Diana's partner, and Henri Paul, their chauffeur, were found d ...

and the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. In 2004, Mercader won an Emmy Award for Business and Financial Reporting for helping to produce "The Little Engine That Could, Spam" a ''

CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...

'' feature report on computer spam. Mercader was appointed as director of talent strategy in 2016 where she helped improve workplace diversity and coordinated CBS News' participation with the

Asian American Journalists Association The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational and professional organization based in San Francisco, California with more than 1,500 members and 21 chapters across the United States and Asia. The current presi ...

(AAJA), the

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to unbiased coverage of LGBTQ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, edu ...

, and the

National Association of Black Journalists The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of African-American journalists, students, and media professionals. Founded in 1975 in Washington, D.C., by 44 journalists, the NABJ's stated purpose is to provide quality p ...

. She graduated from the AAJA's Executive Leadership Program in Chicago in 2004.

Death

For over two decades before her death, Mercader had numerous illnesses, including cancer. In the last week of February 2020, she took medical leave, then died from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

at a New York hospital on March 29, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mercader, Maria 1965 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists 21st-century American women journalists CBS News people College of New Rochelle alumni Mercy University alumni Journalists from New York City News & Documentary Emmy Award winners Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)