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By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The first female United States(US) Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, is dead.
According to a statement issues by her family, on Wednesday, 84-year-old Albright died of cancer.
“She was surrounded by family and friends. We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend,” the statement said.
Albright was born in what was then Czechoslovakia and fled with her family after the Nazis occupied the country in 1939.
She served as Secretary of State from 1997 to 2001 during the administration of President Bill Clinton.
Clinton, in a statement, said: “Hillary and I are profoundly saddened by the passing of Madeleine Albright. She was one of the finest Secretaries of State, an outstanding UN ambassador, a brilliant professor, and an extraordinary human being.
“Few leaders have been so perfectly suited for the times in which they served.”
