When Nita Lowey entered Congress in 1988 at age 51, few could have predicted the outsized impact the Jewish Democrat from New York would have on U.S.-Israel relations, women’s leadership, and bipartisan cooperation over her 32-year career that ended with her death Sunday at 87.

Her family announced she died at home in Harrison, New York, after battling breast cancer for several years.

“A public servant in the truest sense, she was guided by the Jewish core value of ‘Tikkun Olam,’ repairing the world,” her family said in their announcement.

Born in the Bronx in 1937, Lowey grew up in a home where her mother’s involvement in the local synagogue planted seeds of community service. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, she headed to Mount Holyoke College, where her Jewish identity found new purpose.

Politics came later. After marriage and raising three children, Lowey entered public service in her 30s as an assistant to Governor Mario Cuomo. By 1988, at age 51, she defeated a Republican incumbent to win her congressional seat.

In Washington, Lowey broke barriers by becoming the first woman to head the House Appropriations Committee. But perhaps her most enduring legacy came through her steadfast advocacy for Israel and Middle East peace. Throughout her tenure, Lowey consistently pushed through significant aid packages to Israel, recognizing the strategic importance of the relationship even as she maintained her willingness to speak candidly when she felt Israeli leadership was undermining bipartisan support.

In 2001, she added another first to her resume by becoming the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Committee.

But perhaps her most crowning achievement came through coalition-building. Lowey somehow brought both the right-wing AIPAC and left-wing J Street to the Alliance for Middle East Peace in support of funding for grassroots peace programs between Israelis and Palestinians. The resulting legislation, named the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, passed with overwhelming bipartisan support after her retirement in 2020.

For Nita Lowey, that privilege of service became her defining legacy, guided always by the belief that the world could, indeed, be repaired. Lowey is survived by Steve, her husband of 64 years, three children, and eight grandchildren.