Arms negotiator and trailblazer in finance

Born: November 15, 1951;

Died: April 29, 2019

ELLEN Tauscher, who has died aged 67, was a trailblazer for women in finance and, at 25 years old, was the youngest woman to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

President Barack Obama later appointed her to the State Department, where she served as the under secretary of state for arms control and international security under secretary of state Hillary Clinton. In that role, Tauscher helped lead negotiations with Russia over the 2010 New START treaty, which limits each country to no more than 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads and 700 deployed missiles and bombers.

“She made America and the world safer through her work on arms control at the State Department,” Clinton said in a statement. “Ellen woke up every day determined to make a difference, and make a difference she did.”

Tauscher had served in Congress for more than a decade as a Democrat before joining the Obama administration,

Her first foray into politics was chairing her good friend Dianne Feinstein’s first two US Senate campaigns in 1992 and 1994.

“Ellen never backed down from a challenge and always stood up for what she thought was right,” Feinstein said in a statement. “She remains an inspiration for all of us in Congress and I hope younger members will look to her as an example to emulate. She’ll always be remembered.”

In 1996, she unseated two-term Republican Bill Baker for the 10th congressional district seat in the San Francisco Bay Area in what her family said was a historic election that no one thought a Democrat would win that year.

“Public service was her calling, and there was no job she loved more than representing the people of Contra Costa, Alameda and Solano counties,” her family said.

She left Congress in 2009 during her 7th term.

Tauscher retired from the State Department after three years but continued to work in California for Military Advisory Council.

A native of Harrison, New Jersey, she graduated from Seton Hall University and worked as an investment banker before switching to politics.

“California sends our heartfelt condolences to her loved ones and the many public servants she mentored and inspired,” Governor Gavin Newsom said. “We will hold Ellen’s memory close as we continue her work toward a more just and peaceful world.”