Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, the first woman to represent Missouri in the Senate, has died at 90

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, who became the first female senator to represent Missouri after being appointed to replace her husband after his death, died Tuesday. She was 90.

Carnahan was appointed to the Senate in 2001 following the posthumous election of her husband, Governor Mel Carnahan, and she served until 2002.

“My mother passed away peacefully after a long and rich life. She was a fearless pioneer. She was brilliant, creative, compassionate and devoted to her family and her fellow Missourians,” her family said in a statement.

Her family did not specify the cause of death but said Carnahan died after a brief illness.

Carnahan was born on December 20, 1933 in Washington, DC, and grew up in the nation’s capital. Her father worked as a plumber and her mother as a hairdresser.

She met Mel Carnahan, the son of a Missouri congressman, at a church event, and they got to know each other better after sitting next to each other in a high school class, according to family information. They married on June 12, 1954.

Jean Carnahan graduated from George Washington University a year later with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and public administration, and they later raised four children on a farm near Rolla, Missouri.

She served as first lady of Missouri after her husband’s election as governor in 1992 and during his two terms in office.

On October 16, 2000, the governor, the couple’s son Roger, and an aide were killed in a plane crash. After Mel Carnahan was posthumously elected three weeks later, acting Governor appointed Jean Carnahan to leave the seat vacant due to her husband’s death.

She served from January 3, 2001 to November 25, 2002.