An icon in Chicago’s history passed away today at 81. Former mayor Jane Byrne, the city’s only female mayor to date, got her city named “the most livable city” by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Though her cause of death was not immediately known, her daughter says she had been in hospice care and had a stroke two years ago, said the Chicago Tribune.

Byrne’s term as the city’s only female mayor so far began in 1979. The former mayor lost his re-election largely due to the city’s dissatisfaction over the mayor’s seemingly slow response in handling a recent snowstorm.

Byrne went above and beyond her call of duty, at one point switching homes, moving for three weeks to Cabrini-Green, to bring attention to crime in that area.

“She loved Cabrini, and what she loved were the kids there,” said Kathy Byrne, Jane Byrne’s only child.

Byrne was the one to sign the city’s first anti-handgun ordinance.

She lost her re-election in 1983, losing to Harold Washington, who became the city’s first African-American mayor.

The city began honoring Byrne in recent months, naming the Circle Interchange and the Water Tower park after her. The August dedication of the interchange was Byrne’s last public appearance.

Kathy Byrne was interviewed by the Tribune Friday following the death of her mother that morning.

Kathy described her mother’s last view: “There’s a big picture window and a balcony with an east view of Water Tower and the lake. She looked down on the city she loved…. The family was her, she was surrounded by people that loved her and whom she loved.”

The funeral is scheduled for Monday at St. Vincent de Paul Parish.