Former U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, a long serving New York Democrat who was the first woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, has died. She was 87.

Longtime New York congresswoman Nita Lowey, 87, has died from metastatic breast cancer, her family announced Sunday.

Nita M. Lowey, a veteran legislator from New York who served 16 terms until her retirement at the end of the 116th Congress, died on Saturday. The cause was breast cancer, her family announced. She was 87.