Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died Friday at her home in Phoenix. A Supreme Court statement reported her cause of death as “complications related to advanced dementia, probably Alzheimer’s, and a respiratory illness.” She was 93 years old.
Born in El Paso in 1930, Justice O’Connor earned a B.A. in economics and a law degree from Stanford University, graduating in the top 10% of her class in 1952. O’Connor was the first female Supreme Court Justice, appointed by President Reagan in 1981. She served for more than two decades before retiring in 2006 to care for her longtime husband, John Jay O’Connor.
O’Connor is survived by her three sons and six grandchildren.
