Petra Mayer, a beloved books editor on NPR’s Tradition desk, died on Saturday.
She died abruptly at Holy Cross Hospital in Maryland of what is believed to be a pulmonary embolism, stated Nancy Barnes, NPR’s senior vice chairman for information, in an e-mail to workers.
“Petra was NPR by way of and thru,” Barnes wrote. “To say that Petra might be missed merely appears insufficient.”
Mayer was a proud nerd with a penchant for science fiction, comics and cats, stated fellow books editor Meghan Sullivan.
She shared these passions with readers and listeners by way of her critiques of sci-fi, fantasy, romance, thrillers and comics, her trusty on-the-scene reporting at Comic-Con, and her contributions to the Book Concierge, NPR’s annual literary-recommendation device. She introduced her zeal to the visitor chair on occasional Pop Tradition Glad Hour podcast episodes.
“Her ardour and enthusiasm was indelible, and she or he was beneficiant about sharing each with you,” wrote Mallory Yu, a producer and film editor for All Issues Thought-about.
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“Her ardour and enthusiasm was indelible, and she or he was beneficiant about sharing each with you,” wrote Mallory Yu, a producer and film editor for All Issues Thought-about.
Allison Shelley/NPR
Previous to becoming a member of the NPR Books group in 2012, she was an affiliate producer and director for All Issues Thought-about on weekends, and in addition hung out as a manufacturing assistant for Morning Version and Weekend Version Saturday.
Stu Rushfield, a technical director at NPR, fondly remembered the enjoyment of working with Mayer within the studio again then.
“I can nonetheless hear her infectious chuckle,” he wrote. “She was a caring one who genuinely appreciated the great work of others.”
Mayer first landed at NPR as an engineering assistant in 1994, whereas attending Amherst Faculty. In 1997, she briefly joined Boston’s NPR member station WBUR as a information author. However she discovered her method again to NPR in 2000, after incomes a grasp’s diploma in journalism from Columbia College and spending two years as an audio editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Her colleagues bear in mind her for her smarts, sarcastic humor and loyalty. “She is just like the keeper of a sure wonderfulness of NPR,” stated Rose Friedman, a books and tradition editor. “She is the spirit of the place.”
“Her ardour and enthusiasm was indelible, and she or he was beneficiant about sharing each with you,” wrote Mallory Yu, a producer and film editor for All Issues Thought-about.
Beth Novey, a producer and editor on the Tradition desk, described her as a joyful and beneficiant colleague, collaborator and pal. “She was all the time up for something — whether or not it was taking over a last-minute edit, dressing up because the AP Fashion Information for Halloween, or making a hedgehog out of cheese for an intern farewell social gathering,” Novey recalled. “She’d been knitting hats for the brand new infants on the Arts Desk — and it is not possible to think about even a single day at NPR with out her.”
“She was one of the best and rarest species of nerd, whose enthusiasm was keen and honest and open and welcoming,” tweeted Glen Weldon, an NPR tradition critic and a bunch of the community’s Pop Tradition Glad Hour podcast. “She needed you to like the stuff she liked, and equipped you onerous incontrovertible proof to help her thesis.”
Mayer traced her nerd-dom again to George Orwell’s dystopian novel, 1984, which she occurred to learn in 1984 when she was 9 years outdated.
“My dad handed me his outdated faculty copy of the e-book and stated, ‘Right here, I believe you are able to learn this,’ ” she stated in a 2018 “Faces of NPR” interview. “I used to be hooked, and began studying all of the dystopia I might get my fingers on, and the remainder is historical past.”
In the identical interview, she was requested what she liked about public radio. “EVERYTHING,” she replied. “No actually. We inform tales in a method nobody else can, we carry up voices nobody else does, we’ll deliver you the information however we’ll additionally deliver you the enjoyment in a method no different medium can.”
