Madeleine Albright, the first woman US Secretary of State, died of cancer on Wednesday at the age of 84.

The news of her death was communicated by email to the staff of the Albright Stonebridge Group, an global strategy group founded by Albright.

The 84-year-old’s family also shared a statement on her death, writing, “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 cause was cancer. She was surrounded by family and friends. We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend.”

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“Madeleine Albright, born Marie Jana Korbelova, was a native of Prague who came to the United States as a refugee in 1948 and rose to the heights of American policy-making, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, the nation’s highest civilian honor,” the statement added, highlighting her life’s achievements.

“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. She founded the Albright Institute for Global Affairs at Wellesley College, served as a lifetime trustee of The Aspen Institute, and was a member of the chapter of the Washington National Cathedral. She was 84 years old,” the statement concluded.

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A major figure in President Bill Clinton’s administration, Albright served as the US ambassador to the United Nations (UN) prior to being appointed as Secretary of State during Clinton’s second term.

Subsequently, she became the face of US foreign policy from the decade starting with the end of the Cold War to the war on terror in the early 2000s in the aftermath of 9/11.