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Former Rockford University Commencement Speaker, First Woman on the Supreme Court passed away Dec. 2, 2023
12/07/2023 3:09 pm
By Sara Myers, Digital Media & Communications Specialist
Former U.S. Justice Sandra Day O’Connor died this past Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, according to CNN.
O’Connor was the first woman to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court. According to CNN, the former U.S. Justice died from “complications related to advanced dementia.” She was 93.
According to the Rockford Register Star, the Hon. Sandra Day O’Connor delivered the commencement address at Rockford University on May 14, 1989. O’Conner was also a recipient of the Jane Addams Medal in 1987.
In the CNN article, President Joe Biden called her “an American icon” and also said, “I did not agree with all of her opinions, but I admired her decency and unwavering devotion to the facts, to our country, to active citizenship and the common good.”
