Former Secretary Of State Madeleine Albright Dies At 84

Madeleine Albright has died at the age of 84.
She passed away from cancer.
She was the first female Secretary of State.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has passed away. Her family confirmed the news and paid tribute to the first woman to ever become Secretary of State. Madeleine sadly died after a battle with cancer. She was 84 years old.

Her family wrote, “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.”

Madeleine Albright has passed away at age 84

Madeleine Albright US Secretary of State greets a refugee boy holding sign that reads ‘We want back home to Kosova.’ Albright was one of the chief hawks advocates of NATO military intervention to end the former Yugoslavia’s ethnic cleansing in Kosovo / Everett Collection

Madeleine was born Marie Jana Korbelova. She immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia with her family in 1948. Later on, she got her Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1975 and worked on the National Security Council.

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GILMORE GIRLS, Madeleine Albright, Alexis Bledel, 'Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number' — GILMORE GIRLS, Madeleine Albright, Alexis Bledel, ‘Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number,’ (Season 6, aired October 25, 2005), 2000-2007, photo: Scott Garfield / © Warner Bros./Everett Collection

Madeleine served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and then as secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton. FOX News shared that “she also 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 received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

BETTER ANGELS, Madeleine Albright, 2018. © Artefact Entertainment /Courtesy Everett Collection

She was previously married to Joseph Medill Patterson Albright but they divorced in 1982. Madeleine is survived by her three children and many grandchildren.