Jean Carnahan, who in 2001 became the first woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate after being appointed to fill her husband’s posthumous election, died Tuesday in St. Louis County, Mo. He was 90 years old.
Her family confirmed the death, at a hospice, but did not specify the cause.
Ms. Carnahan, wife of former Missouri governor Mel Carnahan, was appointed to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in December 2000 after Mr. Carnahan was elected a few weeks after he was killed in a plane crash with one of their sons and for many years . assistant. Ms. Carnahan was sworn in on January 3, 2001.
“I know I didn’t come to the US Senate the same way you did,” Ms. Carnahan said in remarks to her new Senate colleagues. “I had no long-term, personal commitment to a campaign. My name was never on a ballot. There was no victory celebration on election night. You are here because of your victory. I am here because of my loss. But we are all here to do the work of this great nation.”
Ms. Carnahan, a moderate Democrat who had never held public office before being appointed to fill her husband’s seat, served for nearly two years. He ran to retain the seat in the 2002 election, but lost to Republican Jim Tallent by 22,000 votes.
After her defeat, Ms. Carnahan told The New York Times that despite the turmoil and pain she had endured, she always put bitterness aside. “It’s an acid in your life that corrodes your soul,” he said.
During her time in the Senate, Ms. Carnahan focused on national security and conditions for members of the military, working to secure health care benefits for reservists and National Guard personnel, according to a family statement. He was part of the first congressional delegation to Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He also helped introduce a law requiring companies to make rapid electronic reporting of insider trading.
As first lady of Missouri during her husband’s two terms as governor, Ms. Carnahan promoted on-site day care centers for working families, supported shelters for victims of domestic abuse and was an advocate for seniors and working families, her family said.
He published several books, including two on the historic Governor’s Mansion in Missouri.
Ms. Carnahan was born Jean Carpenter on December 20, 1933, in Washington, DC, and grew up in Anacostia, a working-class neighborhood on the city’s southeast side. Her father, Reginald Carpenter, was a plumber. Her mother, Alvina Carpenter, was a hairdresser.
She met Mr. Carnahan when they were teenagers in a Sunday night youth group at a Baptist church and sat next to each other in class at Anacostia High School, the family said. The couple married on June 12, 1954.
The following year, Ms. Carnahan graduated from George Washington University with a degree in business and public administration. She and Mr. Carnahan raised four children on a farm outside Rolla, Mo., a small community in the Ozarks.
She is survived by two sons: Russ and Tom. a daughter, Robin; and five grandchildren.
Roger Wilson, the former Missouri governor who appointed Ms. Carnahan to the Senate, said in a statement Tuesday that she was his “first and only choice” to fill the seat her husband won.
Sheelagh McNeill contributed to the research.
