Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco (D) died Sunday at the age of 76, the Associated Press reported.
The office of current Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) confirmed the death to the outlet.
{mosads}Blanco, the state’s first elected female governor, led Louisiana through Hurricane Katrina.
She defeated rare eye cancer in 2011, but that later returned and spread to her liver, according to AP.
Blanco announced last year that she was in a “fight for my own life, one that will be difficult to win.”
Blanco’s political career took a hit from which it never entirely recovered after Katrina. She received significant criticism for her handling of the hurricane in 2005, which killed more than 1,400 people in Louisiana.
She was described as unprepared, overwhelmed and indecisive in the face of the tragedy where 80 percent of New Orleans was inundated.
Blanco chose not to run for a second term as governor in 2008 after the fall out of Katrina.