Madeleine Albright – first woman secretary of state – dies at age 84

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as the chief diplomat from the United States, died on Wednesday at the age of 84.

"Her death was confirmed in an email to staff of the Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm founded by Albright," according to a CNN report.

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

Albright served as the US Ambassador to the United States from 1993-1997 prior to becoming secretary of state. She was nominated for the top State Department post in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

Since retiring at the end of Clinton's second term in 2001, Albright has worked as a political consultant and columnist. She also served on the Council of Foreign Relations and was awarded the Medal of Freedom – our nation's highest civilian honor – in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama.

Albright's final opinion piece was published in The New York Times on February 23rd.

"Should he invade," Albright prophetically wrote of Russian President Vladimir Putin's foredoomed plans to conquer Ukraine, "it will be a historic error."