Soma Golden Behr, a longtime senior editor at The New York Times who was a centrifuge of story ideas — they flew out of her in all directions — and whose journalistic passions were poverty, race and class, which led to reporting that won Pulitzer Prizes, died on Sunday in Manhattan. She was 84. Her death, in the palliative care unit of Mount Sinai Hospital, came after breast cancer had spread to other organs, her husband, William A. Behr, said. Ms. Golden Behr, whose economics degree from Radcliffe led to a lifetime interest in issues around inequality, was instrumental in overseeing several major series for The Times that examined class and racial divides. Each enlisted squads of reporters and photographers for intensive, sometimes yearlong assignments.

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Persons: Soma Golden Behr, —, William A . Behr, Golden Behr, Radcliffe, ”, Gerald M, Boyd Organizations: The New York Times, Mount Sinai, The Times Locations: Manhattan, Mount, America