Madeleine Albright (RI, ’68, Ph.D. ’76) was the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state (1997-2001), making her the highest-ranking woman in government in U.S. history at the time.

From Columbia President Lee Bollinger’s statement: “With the passing of Madeleine Albright, we mourn the loss of a woman of uncommon grit, warmth, and character who devoted her remarkable talents to a life of public service and the protection of the vulnerable. Long after her work for President Clinton as U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations and secretary of state had ended, she remained at the forefront of public discourse on the issues that matter with a moral authority that never wavered.”

On the occasion of the Harriman Institute’s 50th anniversary, Secretary Albright sent the following statement: “In the ’60s the Russian Institute provided those of us enrolled in the University’s Public Law and Government Department a home base: intellectual sustenance, camaraderie, and a sense of purpose. Although happily most of what we learned is now archeology, the discipline and love of the subject continue. Here’s to the next 50!”

Read the obituary in the New York Times.