Former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum Baker, a three-term Republican who represented Kansas, died Friday at age 94 in Manhattan, Kansas.
Kassebaum Baker was the first woman to chair a major standing committee in the United States Senate, breaking a longstanding gender barrier. She was also the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas and the first to win a Senate seat without her husband having previously served in Congress.
Born in Kansas to a family with political roots, she maintained a moderate approach throughout her Senate career, frequently working across the aisle. Her most significant legislative achievement was her role in passing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which President Bill Clinton signed into law on Aug. 21, 1996, with Kassebaum Baker standing alongside Clinton and Sen. Edward Kennedy on the South Lawn of the White House.
She served as temporary chairman of the Republican Convention on July 14, 1980, in Detroit. She was married to former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Howard Baker, who later served as Senate Majority Leader.
