Barney Frank, who represented Southern Massachusetts for over 30 years, died at 86.
According to Reuters, his sister Ann Lewis said on Wednesday, May 20, confirmed that the Democrat who gave his name to a landmark financial reform bill after the economic crisis of 2007-2009 has die.
One of the best-known gay politicians of his time, Frank served for over 30 years in the US House of Representatives as a member from Massachusetts and a liberal who gladly worked with Republicans.
Frank’s sister Doris Breay told NBC Boston, “He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister.”
He established himself as a leading voice in debates over banking, affordable housing and LGBTQ rights.
He chaired the Financial Services Committee amid the 2008 meltdown and co-authored the milestone Dodd-Frank Act, a sweeping law that sought to put Wall Street firms under tougher scrutiny.
He blazed a trail for other openly gay American elected officials, and in 2012, he became the first member of Congress to enter into a same-sex marriage, tying the knot with his longtime partner, Jim Ready.
Frank told NBC News in a phone interview in last month, “It was life-changing, lifesaving for me.”
“I think the key to our having made the enormous progress we made in defeating anti-gay prejudice had to do with us all coming out and people discovering the gap between our reality and the way we were painted,” he added.
Frank did not seek re-election to a 17th term in the House in 2012 and retired from politics the following year.
