Jean Carnahan, 90, first woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate, dies

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 seat following his posthumous election, died Tuesday in St. Louis County, Missouri. She was 90 years old.

Her family confirmed the death in hospice, but did not specify the cause.

Mrs. Carnahan, the wife of Mel Carnahan, a former governor of Missouri, was appointed to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in December 2000 following Mr. Carnahan's election just weeks after he died in a plane crash with one of their sons and a long-time assistant. Ms. Carnahan was sworn in on January 3, 2001.

“I know I didn't come to the U.S. Senate the same way,” Ms. Carnahan said said in comments to her new colleagues in the Senate. “I had no long-term, personal involvement in a campaign. My name has never been on a ballot. There was no victory celebration on election night. You are here because of your victory; I'm here because of my loss. But we are all here to do the work of this great nation.”

Mrs. Carnahan, a moderate Democrat who had never held public office before being appointed to fill her husband's seat, served in the role for nearly two years. She ran to keep the seat in the 2002 election, but lost by 22,000 votes to Jim Talent, a Republican.

After her defeat, Ms. Carnahan told The New York Times that despite the tumult and heartache she endured, she had always put bitterness aside. “It's an acid in your life that eats away at your soul,” she said.

During the day her time in the SenateMs. Carnahan focused on national security and conditions for members of the military and worked to secure health care benefits for reservists and National Guard personnel, a family statement said. She was part of the first congressional delegation to Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. She also helped pass a law requiring companies to quickly report insider trading electronically.

As Missouri's first lady during her husband's two terms as governor, Mrs. Carnahan promoted local daycare centers for working families, supported shelters for victims of domestic violence and was an advocate for seniors and working families, her family said.

She has published several books, including two about the historic Governor's Mansion in Missouri.

Ms. Carnahan was born Jean Carpenter on December 20, 1933, in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Anacostia, a working-class neighborhood in the southeastern part of the city. Her father, Reginald Carpenter, was a plumber; her mother, Alvina Carpenter, was a hairdresser.

She met Mr. Carnahan when they were teenagers at a Sunday night youth group at a Baptist church, and they 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 bachelor's degree in business administration 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 won by her husband.

Sheelagh McNeill research contributed.