Minner also was instrumental in the establishment of a state scholarship program that has provided free college tuition to more than 13,000 Delawareans.Ī fiscal conservative who espoused liberal social views, Minner spent much of her time steering Delaware through tough budget cycles. The bill resulted in more than 100 lawsuits, prompting the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington to seek bankruptcy protection and to settle with victims of priest sex abuse for $77 million. The bill abolished Delaware’s two-year time limit for filing personal injury lawsuits and established a two-year period during which lawsuits previously barred by the passage of time could be brought anew. Other landmark legislation included a 2007 measure prompted by the child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. That was decades after she ran for a state House seat in the 1970s intent on changing a banking law that required her husband to co-sign any loan application.Īmid cries of “Ban Ruth Ann!” from outraged business owners and libertarians, Minner in 2002 signed one of the nation’s toughest prohibitions on smoking in public places. “After my first husband died, I became a very independent woman,” she explained after the 2000 election.

John Carney, who served as Minner’s lieutenant governor.īut Minner’s appearance belied her reputation as a hard-nosed politician who didn’t shy from battles with Republican lawmakers or other opponents. “She was a leader who had a real common touch,” said Gov. Her humble beginnings and matronly appearance led one political columnist to dub Minner the “Aunt Bea” of state government, a reference to the family matriarch in television’s “Andy Griffith” show. “I’ve found out since the election, though, that it does matter to a lot of women. “You know, I don’t think it really matters to me that I’m a woman,” she told The Associated Press at the time. “She was a true leader, a great role model for women and those that have had it not so easy in life, to show that if you work hard, are honest, you can make it to the top,” Scuse said.Ī high school dropout who was twice widowed, Minner got her first taste of politics as a legislative bill clerk and rose through the Democratic Party ranks to become the state’s most powerful politician.Īs governor-elect in 2000, Minner didn’t dwell on breaking the gender barrier, but instead noted that she was the first governor in almost 50 years to be elected from downstate Delaware. Minner, who served as governor from 2001 to 2009, passed away Thursday morning, according to Agriculture Secretary Michael Scuse, a friend who once served as her chief of staff.

(AP) - Ruth Ann Minner, a sharecropper’s daughter who became the only woman to serve as Delaware’s governor, has died.

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