Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State, has died.

Madeleine Albright

Provided by Cover Media Madeleine Albright

A spokesperson for the diplomat's family announced on Wednesday that she had passed away at the age of 84 following a battle with cancer. 

"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," they commented. "The cause was cancer. She was surrounded by family and friends. We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend."

Born Marie Jana Korbelová, Albright immigrated to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia in 1948 and became an American citizen in 1957.

After working as an aide to Senator Edmund Muskie, she helped President Bill Clinton assemble his National Security Council following his election win in 1992. Clinton appointed her U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations the following year, and she retained that role until 1997, when she succeeded Warren Christopher as Secretary of State. She remained in the position until 2001, and influenced American foreign policy in the Middle East and Bosnia and Herzegovina significantly during her tenure.