(Newser) – Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run on a major party's presidential ticket, has died at age 75, reports Politico. The former Queens congresswoman made political history when she accepted Walter Mondale's invitation to be his vice-presidential running mate in 1984. "If we can do this, we can do anything," she said then. Ferraro died at Massachusetts General Hospital after a 12-year battle with blood cancer. A more recent female vice-presidential nominee was quick with a Facebook tribute: "She was an amazing woman," wrote Sarah Palin. "She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more."

The New York Times recalls a quote from the late Ann Richards, who was the state treasurer of Texas in 1984 and went on to be governor. “The first thing I thought of was not winning in the political sense, but of my two daughters," she said of the nomination. “To think of the numbers of young women who can now aspire to anything.” Click for more on Ferarro's life, including the ethical allegations that dogged her over her husband's business dealings. (Read more Geraldine Ferraro stories.)

