Janet Elder, who in a three-decade career at The New York Times rose from reporter to deputy managing editor, along the way spending many years as the editor of news surveys and election analysis, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. She was 61.

Dean Baquet, the executive editor of The Times, announced the death to the staff on Thursday morning. Ms. Elder, who lived in Manhattan, had been undergoing treatment for cancer and died at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.

Ms. Elder became one of the highest-ranking women in the Times newsroom, in charge of the administrative side of the news operation. But colleagues cited an unofficial role as well, as chief counselor, hand-holder, fixer and sympathetic ear to the rest of the staff.

Her office was a place to come to gripe, gossip, ask for guidance and more, said Matthew Purdy, another deputy managing editor at The Times. “It was really her humanity that made her a central part of the newsroom,” he said.