Madeleine Albright, First Female Secretary of State, Dies at 84

By Stephanie Downs

Madeleine Albright, who was the first female Secretary of State in United States history under President Bill Clinton, has died. Deadline reported that Albright died of cancer at the age of 84. Her passing was confirmed by her family, who shared a statement on Wednesday via Twitter.

"We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend," their statement read. They went on to list Albright's many accomplishments, including her work with various foundations, her tenure as a professor, and her work in the public sector. "A tireless champion of democracy and human rights, she was at the time of her death a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, chair of Albright Capital Management, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, chair of the National Democratic Institute, chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and an author." 

Elsewhere in the statement, they noted that Albright was surrounded by her family and friends at the time of her death. According to The Hill, Albright was born in Prague and came to the United States as a refugee in 1948. The former Secretary of State, who was born Marie Jana Korbelová, worked closely with the Clinton administration. Albright served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations during Clinton's first term in office. She became the Secretary of State, the first woman to do so, in 1997 during his second term. During her time as the Secretary of State, she worked to expand NATO into former Soviet nations and also helped to negotiate agreements regarding the use of nuclear weapons amongst those very countries. Albright was previously married to Joseph Medill Patterson Albright, with whom she shared three daughters. The pair divorced in 1982.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that both Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and President Joe Biden were aware of Albright's passing. He also said that they will likely release statements in due time. Price himself said, "The impact that she has had on this building is felt every single day in just about every single corridor. Of course, she was a trailblazer as the first female Secretary of State and quite literally opened doors for a large element of our workforce."

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