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Former US top diplomat Madeleine Albright passes away at 84

She was the first woman US secretary of state

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Madeleine Albright, the first female US secretary of state and one of the most influential stateswomen of her generation, has died of cancer at age 84, her family announced Wednesday.

In a statement, Albright's family said she died "surrounded by family and friends," and paid tribute to "a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend" as well as a "tireless champion of democracy and human rights."

President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America’s top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration.

At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history of U.S. government. She was not in the line of succession for the presidency, however, because she was a native of Czechoslovakia.

Albright died of cancer, her family said.

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