Madeleine Albright, First Woman to Serve as U.S. Secretary of State, Dead at 84

Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, who made history as the first woman to serve in the role of U.S. Secretary of State, has died.

A statement released by Albright’s family on Wednesday revealed that she died earlier that same day due to cancer. At the time of her death, the statement added, Albright was “surrounded by family and friends.” She was 84.

“We are heartbroken to announce that Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, the 64th U.S. Secretary of State and the first woman to hold that position, passed away earlier today,” the family said. “The cause was cancer. She was surrounded by family and friends. We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.”

From 1997 through 2001, Albright served as Secretary of State under then-POTUS Bill Clinton. In 2021, President Barack Obama honored Albright with the Presidential Medal of Freedom distinction.

“As the first woman to serve as America’s top diplomat, Madeleine’s courage and toughness helped bring peace to the Balkans and paved the way for progress in some of the most unstable corners of the world,” Obama said when presenting the honor. “And as an immigrant herself—the granddaughter of Holocaust victims who fled her native Czechoslovakia as a child—Madeleine brought a unique perspective to the job.”

RIP.