[Xibizopt]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local...118706824.html
Geraldine A. Ferraro, who rose from a U.S congressional seat in Queens to a place in history as the first woman to run on a major party national ticket for vice president, has died. She was 75.

Ferraro, born in Newburgh, N.Y., died Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital while surrounded by her loved ones, a statement from her family said.

The cause of death was complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that she had battled for twelve years, her family said.

Geraldine Anne Ferraro Zaccaro, a former Queens schoolteacher, was the first woman and first Italian-American to run on a major party national ticket, serving as Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate in 1984 on the Democratic Party ticket....

....Mondale, her former running mate, said Saturday 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," he said....

....In a statement released shortly after her death, 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." A true trailblazer, and a VP candidate worthy of the honor of running on a major ticket.