Geraldine Ferraro, first female veep nominee, dies

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman nominated for U.S. vice president by a major political party, died today at age 75 after a long battle with blood cancer.

Ferraro ran with Democratic nominee Walter Mondale in the 1984 election; they lost to President Ronald Reagan and running mate George H.W. Bush.

"Geraldine will forever be remembered as a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women, and Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life," President Obama said in a statement. "Whether it was as a public school teacher, assistant district attorney, Member of Congress, or candidate for vice president, Geraldine fought to uphold America's founding ideals of equality, justice and opportunity for all."

Referring to his two daughters, Obama added: "Sasha and Malia will grow up in a more equal America because of the life Geraldine Ferraro chose to live."

Mondale told the Associated Press that Ferraro was "a remarkable woman and a dear human being. She was a pioneer in our country for justice for women and a more open society. She broke a lot of molds and it's a better country for what she did."

Bush, who had a testy debate with Ferraro in the 1984 campaign and won the presidency himself four years later, said in a statement that, "though we were one-time political opponents, I am happy to say Gerry and I became friends in time -- a friendship marked by respect and affection."

"I admired Gerry in many ways," Bush added, "not the least of which was the dignified and principled manner she blazed new trails for women in politics."

The major parties did not nominate another woman for vice president until Sarah Palin joined the Republican ticket with John McCain in 2008. In a Facebook posting Saturday, Palin praised Ferraro as "an amazing woman who dedicated her life to public service."

A notice from the Ferraro family:

Geraldine A. Ferraro, who earned a place in history in 1984 as the first woman and first Italian-American to run on a major party national ticket, has died, according to her family. Ms. Ferraro passed away today at Massachusetts General Hospital, surrounded by her loved ones. The cause of death was complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that she had battled for twelve years. Ms. Ferraro was seventy-five years old.

Her family said "Geraldine Anne Ferraro Zaccaro was widely known as a leader, a fighter for justice, and a tireless advocate for those without a voice. To us, she was a wife, mother, grandmother and aunt, a woman devoted to and deeply loved by her family. Her courage and generosity of spirit throughout her life waging battles big and small, public and personal, will never be forgotten and will be sorely missed."

Ms. Ferraro was born on August 26th, 1935 -- Women's Equality Day -- in Newburgh, New York to Antonetta Corrieri and Dominick Ferraro. She is survived by her husband of 50 years, John A. Zaccaro; her three children and their spouses, Donna Zaccaro Ullman and Paul Ullman, John and Anne Rasmussen Zaccaro, and Laura Zaccaro Lee and Josh Lee; and her eight grandchildren, Matthew and Natalie Ullman, Elizabeth, Samantha and John Zaccaro, and Daisy, Alexander and Jane Lee. Ms. Ferraro resided in New York City.

Some background on Ferraro, courtesy of the Associated Press:

Ferraro received a law degree from Fordham University in 1960, the same year she married Zaccaro and became a fulltime homemaker and mother. She said she kept her maiden name to honor her mother, a widow who had worked long hours as a seamstress.

After years in a private law practice, she took a job as an assistant Queens district attorney in 1974. She headed the office's special victims' bureau, which prosecuted sex crimes and the abuse of children and the elderly. In 1978, she won the first of three terms in Congress representing a blue-collar district of Queens.

After losing in 1984, she became a fellow of the Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University until an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. Senate nomination in 1992.

She returned to the law after her 1992 Senate run, acting as an advocate for women raped during ethnic conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

Her advocacy work and support of President Bill Clinton won her the position of ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, where she served in 1994 and 1995.

She co-hosted CNN's Crossfire, in 1996 and 1997 but left to take on Chuck Schumer, then a little-known Brooklyn congressman, in the 1998 Democratic Senate primary. She placed a distant second, declaring her political career finished after she took 26 percent of the vote to Schumer's 51 percent.

In June 1999, she announced that she was joining a Washington, D.C., area public relations firm to head a group advising clients on women's issues.

President Obama's full statement:

Michelle and I were saddened to learn about the passing of Geraldine Ferraro. Geraldine will forever be remembered as a trailblazer who broke down barriers for women, and Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life.

Whether it was as a public school teacher, assistant district attorney, member of Congress, or candidate for vice president, Geraldine fought to uphold America's founding ideals of equality, justice, and opportunity for all.

And as our Ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, she stood up for those ideals around the world. Sasha and Malia will grow up in a more equal America because of the life Geraldine Ferraro chose to live. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband, John Zaccaro, her children and grandchildren and their entire family.