Madeleine Albright, the first US Secretary of State, has died at the age of 84.

By Dareh GregorianNBC

Madeleine Albright, the country's first secretary of state, has died at the age of 84 from cancer, her family confirmed in a statement Wednesday.

"We have lost a loving mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend," her family said, as well as a "tireless defender of democracy and human rights."

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, on October 22, 2009, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on NATO.

Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP, File

Then-President Bill Clinton named Albright United States Ambassador to the United Nations shortly after his inauguration in 1993 and, three years later, delegated her the Secretary of State.

She held this position for four years, actively promoting the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) and military intervention in Kosovo.

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama awarded Albright the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.