Harriett Woods, 79; former Missouri lieutenant governor

Former Lt. Gov. Harriett Woods, 79, an activist Democrat who championed other female politicians after becoming the first elected to statewide office in Missouri, died Thursday night of leukemia at her home in University City, Mo.

Woods became Missouri’s lieutenant governor in 1984 and served one term as the state’s No. 2 executive. Before that, she served eight years in the state Senate, two years on the state Transportation Commission and eight years on the City Council of University City.

In 1982, she narrowly lost a race for the U.S. Senate, coming within 27,500 votes of defeating incumbent Republican John C. Danforth. In the final weeks of the campaign, she was neck and neck with Danforth before falling behind when she ran out of money and was forced to cancel television ads.

She ran for an open Senate seat in 1986 but lost another close race to Republican Christopher Bond.

In the early 1990s, she served as president of the National Women’s Political Caucus at a time when female candidates began making significant gains at the polls.

Born in Cleveland, Woods graduated from the University of Michigan. Before going into politics, she worked for years as a newspaper reporter, then as a moderator and public affairs director for KPLR-TV in St. Louis.

She served on the boards of the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life in St. Louis and the Bella Abzug Institute for Women in Public Life in New York City.

She also lectured widely around the country and recorded monthly commentaries for KWMU-FM, the National Public Radio station in St. Louis. Her final commentary aired last month.