Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro, First Woman On Major Party National Ticket, Dies At Age 75

Eric Kleefeld | March 26, 2011, 12:47PM

Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY), the 1984 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, in March 2007.

Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (D-NY), who in 1984 became the first woman on a major party national ticket as the Democratic nominee for vice president, has died at age 75 from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that she had battled for 12 years, her family announced in a statement.

"Geraldine Anne Ferraro Zaccaro was widely known as a leader, a fighter for justice, and a tireless advocate for those without a voice," her family said. "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."

Ferraro was first elected to the House in 1978, after having served as a prosecutor. In 1984, she became the first woman on a national ticket when former Vice President Walter Mondale (D) selected her as his running mate. President Ronald Reagan, however, won re-election in a 59%-41% national landslide, and the Mondale-Ferraro Democratic ticket only carried the District of Columbia and a narrow win in Mondale's home state of Minnesota. After leaving Congress, she served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

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