Rasky, former economics reporter, dies at 61

Susan Rasky, who covered the economy for Reuters and the New York Times, died Sunday at the age of 61 due to cancer.

Daniel Slotnik of the Times writes, “Ms. Rasky wrote more than 1,700 articles for The Times from both New York and Washington, many exploring the intricacies of the tax code and the Federal Reserve.

“‘She was a dogged reporter,’ Adam Clymer, the former Washington correspondent for The Times, recalled in an email. ‘Dan Rostenkowski, chairman of Ways and Means, once fled into a men’s room to escape her. She waited.’

“Ms. Rasky shared her Polk Award, for national reporting, with her Times colleague David E. Rosenbaum, who died in 2006. The awards are given annually by Long Island University.

“‘Meticulously and insightfully, they covered the complex issues, political maneuvering and personalities in the greatest budget debate that has ever taken place in the United States,’ the award citation said.

“Ms. Rasky had by then left The Times to teach at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. She continued to teach there until her death.”

Read more here. While visiting the Cal-Berkeley grad school several years ago, I had the pleasure of holding the leash of Rasky’s dog while we discussed how to teach economics reporting to students.