Rose Friedman, an editor who helped define NPR’s arts and culture coverage for a decade and a half, died Sept. 17 at her home in New York City. She was 38. NPR confirmed she died of cancer.
Friedman joined NPR in 2010 as an editorial assistant in her early 20s and worked her way up to editor and reporter on the Society & Culture desk. She became best known as a co-creator of Books We Love, the network’s beloved annual reading guide, which grew out of a project originally called the Book Concierge. More recently, she helped lead NPR’s America 250 series. In 2020, she served as NPR’s lead reporter covering the sexual assault trial of former movie executive Harvey Weinstein, and in 2018 she shared a National Headliner Award for a feature on the #MeToo movement.
Colleagues remembered her as both rigorous and warm. “What a gifted, delightful, brilliant, deeply kind person,” said novelist Meg Wolitzer, who worked with Friedman on several NPR features. Theo Balcomb, a former NPR supervising editor now at The Atlantic, said Friedman “had a strong sense of purpose” and always prioritized accuracy over buzz.
Friedman grew up in Newton, Massachusetts, and studied labor history at Macalester College, where her dissertation on worker solidarity won the Barbara Wertheimer Prize. That passion followed her to NPR, where she served as a SAG-AFTRA shop steward and helped push the company to expand its paid parental leave, something she reportedly considered one of her proudest achievements.
Outside of work, friends described her as an enthusiastic traveler and adventurous eater. “No one lives in the moment more than Rose,” said her friend Natalie Winston, recalling a hospital recovery that somehow turned into a trip for dumplings and a ferry ride to Ikea.
Friedman is survived by her partner, Andrew Anastasi, their two children, her parents Carolyn and Jerry Friedman, and her sisters Sophie and Nina.