Albright fled the Nazis, climbed to the summit of diplomacy

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Madeleine Albright fled the Nazis as a child and climbed to the summit of diplomacy and foreign policy in the United States. She broke the glass ceiling as the first female secretary of state and set the pace for other women to follow. Albright’s family said Wednesday she had died of cancer at age 84. Albright was the daughter of a Czech diplomat and she was born just as Adolf Hitler’s Germany started its move down a path of conquest. The bleak years that followed uprooted Albright’s family. She grew to be outspoken and advised women years later “to act in a more confident manner” and “to ask questions when they occur and don’t wait to ask.”