Former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan dies at age 66

R A L EIGH, N . C .» Former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, who stepped away from a banking career to be a stay-athome mom and then ventured into politics, died Monday after a prolonged illness. She was 66.

Hagan died at her home in Greensboro of encephalitis, or brain inflammation, caused by a rare virus spread from ticks to humans, said her former Senate spokeswoman, Sadie Weiner. Hagan contracted Powassan virus in late 2016, and the subsequent brain inflammation made speaking and walking difficult for her.

“We already miss her hupartisan and spirit as the hub of our family, a role she loved more than anything. Nobody could Kay Hagan light up a

room and make people feel welcome like Kay,” her family said in a statement.

Former President Barack Obama remembered Hagan as someone who worked with him to pass the Affordable Care Act and who had a “reasoned, pragmatic voice.”

“She was, quite simply, a terrific public servant — eager to find common ground, willing to rise above the fray, and always focused on making progress for the people she served,” he said in a statement.

She was crucial to passing the 2009 Recovery Act, an economic stimulus package, and the Affordable Care Act, he said.

“Her political courage helped pull our country out of recession and made life better for millions of her fellow Americans,” former Vice President Joe Biden said.

Hagan defeated North Carolina’s first female Republican U.S. senator, Elizabeth Dole, to become the state’s first female Democratic senator. She served a single term in the Senate and lost her 2014 re-elecmor tion bid to Republican North Carolina House Speaker Thom Tillis.

Tillis said in a statement that Hagan had a “dedicated and distinguished record of public service to our state and nation.”

For 10 years, Hagan worked for NationsBank, which was to become Bank of America, where she became a vice president in the estates and trust division. After being a stay-at-home mother, Hagan launched her own political career and won a seat as a Democrat in the North Carolina state Senate in 1998.

Ten years later, the still largely unknown state legislator sought and won the U.S. Senate seat Dole held.