Former U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, a long serving New York Democrat who was the first woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has died. She was 87.
Lowey’s family, in a statement shared by the Westchester County Democratic Committee, said she died Saturday after battling metastatic breast cancer with the “same tenacity and strength that she fought throughout her 32-year career in Congress for women, children and families.”
The family said she passed away peacefully in her home in Harrison, New York, surrounded by her husband, children and grandchildren. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat who served with Lowey in Congress, ordered flags flown at half-staff Sunday through Monday in honor of her former colleague.
“A public servant in the truest sense, she was guided by the Jewish core value of ‘Tikkun Olam,’ repairing the world,” the family’s statement read. “She was an indefatigable fighter and worked across the aisle to deliver results for her constituents and all Americans.”
Lowey represented suburban communities north of New York City, including parts of Westchester County and the Hudson River Valley.
She was elected to Congress in 1988 and served until she opted to retire rather than seek reelection in 2020.
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