Louisiana's first female governor, Kathleen Blanco, passed away Sunday, August 18, after a battle with cancer.
Blanco was 76. She had been diagnosed with her second round of cancer in 2017 and died at a Lafayette hospice center she entered earlier this year.
Blanco served as governor from 2004 to 2008, choosing not to run for a second term after having led the state through Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which devastated the region.