Lucinda Franks Dies at 74; Prize-Winning Journalist Broke Molds She avoided covering beauty pageants by going to Northern Ireland on her own and was later the first woman to win a Pulitzer for national reporting. Lucinda Franks in 1991. She wrote for leading magazines and produced two well-received memoirs, about her father’s secret past and her marriage to the Manhattan district attorney Robert M. Morgenthau.Credit...David Damroth Published May 6, 2021Updated May 20, 2021 Lucinda Franks, a widely published writer and investigative journalist who was the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for national reporting, died on Wednesday in Hopewell Junction, N.Y. She was 74.