Pioneering Women’s Rights Advocate Patricia Schroeder Passes Away at 87

Former US Representative Patricia Schroeder, a pioneer for women’s and family rights in Congress, has died at the age of 87.

Schroeder, born in Portland, Oregon to an aviation insurance salesman and a public school teacher, was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 1972. She served in Congress for more than two decades, becoming known as a forceful voice on issues from women’s reproductive rights to arms control.

Schroeder was unafraid of embarrassing her congressional colleagues in public, and became an icon for the feminist movement. She was unwilling to join what she called “the good old boys’ club” just to score political points, and her unorthodox methods cost her important committee posts.

Schroeder died Monday night in a hospital in Celebration, Florida, surrounded by her family. The cause was complications from a stroke.

Schroeder’s legacy lives on in the many women she inspired to pursue public office. Her daughter, Jamie Cornish, said her mother “was a trailblazer who fought for what she believed in and never gave up.”