CLEVELAND, Ohio - Mary Rose Oakar, a pioneering lawmaker who spent 16 years fighting for women’s economic equality and breaking barriers in the male-dominated halls of Congress, died Saturday in Cleveland. She was 85.

Born March 5, 1940, to parents of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry, Oakar was the youngest of five children in a working-class Cleveland family. Her father was a laborer and her mother a homemaker.

She would later reflect on her diverse upbringing: “We were very oriented toward our neighborhood. I came from a very diverse community, which I love. ... I went to school and grew up with people of all backgrounds and races. I think that dealing with my peers was a great experience in preparation for being in public life.”

After working her way through school as a telephone operato

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