Slaughter, 88, upstate rep in D.C.

REP. LOUISE Slaughter, a pioneering politician who represented the Rochester area for more than 30 years, died Friday. She was 88.

The first woman to chair the Rules Committee — and the oldest member of the House — suffered a head injury after a fall, her office said.

“To have met Louise Slaughter is to have known a force of nature,” Slaughter’s chief of staff, Liam Fitzsimmons, said in a statement. “She was a relentless advocate for Western New York whose visionary leadership brought infrastructure upgrades, technology and research investments and two federal manufacturing institutes to Rochester that will transform the local economy for generations to come.”

Slaughter was born Dorothy McIntosh in Kentucky in 1929. She graduated from the University of Kentucky.

She and her husband were married for 57 years. Bob Slaughter passed away in 2014 at 82. The couple had three daughters and seven grandchildren.

The Democrat was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1986 after first serving in the State Assembly for two terms.

Slaughter (photo) was a founding member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, working to promote reproductive health and protect women’s right to choice. She also co-authored the Violence Against Women Act and fought for the passage of legislation that guarantees women and minorities are included in all federal health trials.

Gov. Cuomo paid tribute to the longtime lawmaker who once worked for his father, calling her “a trailblazer, a partner and friend.”