The 64th U.S. Secretary of State passed away on Wednesday.
The news was confirmed by her family, “We are heartbroken to announce that Dr. Madeleine K. Albright, the 64th Secretary of State and the first woman to hold that position, passed away earlier today, The cause was cancer,” her family said in a statement.
“She was surrounded by family and friends. We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend.”
Albright was 84 years old when she passed, the feminist icon fled the Nazis as a child in her native Czechoslovakia during World War Two, and was the first woman to hold that position as secretary of state.
Madeline was born in the former Czechoslovakia in 1937, She was nominated to become the first woman secretary of state in 1997, she was in the post until 2001.
Below is a statement from the family of @Madeleine: pic.twitter.com/C7Xt0EN5c9
— Madeleine Albright (@madeleine) March 23, 2022
Albright’s father was a Jewish diplomat who fled Czechoslovakia with the family as Nazis invaded the country in 1939. They escaped to the UK and converted to Catholicism to avoid persecution.
But Albright, who came to the US as a refugee in 1948, didn’t learn about her Jewish heritage until after she was sworn in as Secretary of State in 1997.
Mourning the loss of the diplomat was former president George W. Bush “Laura and I are heartbroken by the news of Madeleine Albright’s death,” he said. “She lived out the American dream and helped others realize it…. She served with distinction as a foreign-born foreign minister who understood firsthand the importance of free societies for peace in our world.”
“I respect her love of country and public service, and Laura and I are grateful to have called Madeleine Albright our friend.”
