Former Democrat Congressman Barney Frank passed away on Tuesday night, his sister and a close family friend confirmed. Frank, who served in Congress for over three decades, entered hospice care at his home in Maine last month. He had been receiving treatment for congestive heart failure at his residence in Ogunquit, Maine, during recent months.

Frank is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, and sisters, Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, along with brother David Frank. “He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister,” Breay said today.

Born in 1940 in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank wrote in his 2015 memoir that he was drawn to public life after Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old from Chicago, was lynched by white men in Mississippi. He entered politics in 1968 as an aide to Boston Mayor Kevin White before winning a seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972. Frank was elected to Congress in 1980 and represented Massachusetts until his resignation in 2013.

Frank, known for his focus on marginalized communities, publicly came out as gay in 1987, becoming the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. With his 2012 marriage to Ready, he became the first incumbent lawmaker on Capitol Hill to marry someone of the same sex.

By 2007, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he left a lasting policy mark as the U.S. economy approached collapse. He worked with the Republican Bush administration to pass a financial rescue package that provided vital support to institutions but also spurred a populist revolt that continues to influence American politics.

“Barney Frank was one of a kind,” Barack Obama stated. “For more than three decades in Congress, he fought tirelessly for the people of Massachusetts, helped make housing more affordable, stood up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, and helped pass one of the most sweeping financial reforms in history designed to protect consumers and prevent another financial crisis.”

“Barney’s passion and wit were second to none, and our thoughts are with his family today,” Obama added.

Frank’s most significant legislative achievement was the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Sponsored by him and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, it tightened regulations on the financial industry as part of the government’s response to the 2007 housing crisis and the subsequent global financial meltdown. Signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, the measure aimed to prevent major banks from engaging in excessively risky behavior and protect consumers from unfair practices by lenders. Though Congress watered it down in 2018 by exempting smaller and midsize banks from stricter oversight, the bill remained largely intact.

Mr. Frank was also a champion of gay rights, civil rights, and women’s rights through his actions and example. He insisted that his male partner be invited to all events to which spouses of other representatives were invited. In 2012, at age 72, he married Jim Ready and became the first sitting member of Congress to wed someone of the same sex.

According to his memoir “Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage” (2015), Frank worked behind the scenes to advance his causes. One example was persuading President Bill Clinton not to appoint Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia as secretary of state due to his history of homophobia.

Growing up in a working-class family in New Jersey, Frank developed an early interest in politics, stemming from his sense of being a minority and outsider.