Image Source: Getty / David M. Russell [1]

Political and feminist icon Madeleine Albright died from cancer on March 23 at 84 years old. On Wednesday, Albright's family shared news of her death in a statement via Twitter [2], saying she was surrounded by family and friends at the time of her passing.

The first woman to ever lead the state department, Albright was born in then-Czechoslovakia as Marie Jana Korbelová and came to the US in 1948 as a refugee following the Nazi occupation. After graduating from Wellesley College and securing a master's degree at Columbia University, she eventually went on to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations and then secretary of state under President Bill Clinton. She was a prominent figure in international diplomacy during the Clinton administration, shaping foreign policy by advocating for the expansion of NATO and promoting peace.

The feminist icon was a fierce advocate for women's rights and, as the State Department's chief spokesman Ned Price said [3], "quite literally opened doors for a large element of [the] workforce." After leaving office, she became a professor at Georgetown University and chairwoman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs in Washington, both positions she held until her death.

In 2012, Albright, who was also a bestselling author, was honored with the presidential medal of freedom by President Barack Obama for her lasting contributions to the nation. "It took me quite a long time to develop a voice, and now that I have it, I am not going to be silent," she once said in an interview with HuffPost [4]. "I have had fun being who I became, so to speak."

Read the family's full statement below.