Veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein, a titan of US political history who notched countless legislative achievements during a trailblazing three-decade career in the Senate, has died at 90 years old, US media reported Friday.
Feinstein, the oldest senator, was celebrated as a hugely effective legislator and tough check on administrations from both parties – but had announced her retirement as her health worsened and following a number of missteps that threatened her legacy.
A centrist Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 1992 in the "Year of the Woman," Feinstein broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics. She was a passionate advocate for liberal priorities important to her state –including environmental protection, reproductive rights and gun control – but was also known as a pragmatic lawmaker who reached out to Republicans and sought middle ground.
She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and became its first female president in 1978, the same year Mayor George Moscone was gunned down alongside Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor. Feinstein found Milk's body.
After Moscone's death, Feinstein became San Francisco's first female mayor. In the Senate, she was one of California's first two female senators, the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary committee's top Democrat.
Although Feinstein was not always embraced by the feminist movement, her experiences colored her outlook through her five decades in politics.