Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to become the United Kingdom's prime minister, has died of a stroke at the age of 87, CNN reports.
The leader of her country's Conservative Party from 1979 to 1990 and a strong supporter and confidante of Ronald Reagan, she had suffered several strokes since her 2002 retirement from public life.
Thatcher served from 1979 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness.
Thatcher won the nation's top job only six years after declaring in a television interview, "I don't think there will be a woman prime minister in my lifetime."
During her time at the helm of the British government, she emphasized moral absolutism, nationalism, and the rights of the individual versus that of the state — famously declaring, "There is no such thing as society" in 1987.
Nicknamed the "Iron Lady" by the Soviet press after a 1976 speech declaring that "the Russians are bent on world dominance," Thatcher later enjoyed a close working relationship with U.S. President Reagan, with whom she shared similar conservative views.
Read more at CNN.