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

Albright died Wednesday of cancer.

Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as US secretary of state, died Wednesday, according to a statement from her family. Albright was 84.

She died of cancer, her family said, adding that she was "surrounded by family and friends" at the time.

Nominated by then-President Bill Clinton in 1996, Albright served in the cabinet for the last four years of the Clinton administration. 

Clinton previously named Albright US ambassador to the United Nations, in 1993. She was a "tireless champion of democracy and human rights," according to the statement. 

In 2012, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama. 

Wellesley College, where Albright graduated in 1959, called her "a force of nature in politics" and her passing "a heartbreaking loss for our country."
 
More to come.