CLEVELAND — Former Cleveland area U.S. Rep. Mary Rose Oakar, who served eight terms as the first Democratic woman from Ohio elected to Congress, has died. Oakar was 85.

Oakar was born in Cleveland on March 5, 1940 to parents of Lebanese and Syrian ancestry, according to her congressional biography . Her election to serve Ohio's 20th district, representing Cleveland's west side and surrounding Cuyahoga County suburbs, made her not only the state's first Democratic congresswoman but also the first Arab American woman, and first Syrian American and first Lebanese American to serve in the United States Congress.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) announced Oakar's passing in a statement Sunday afternoon.

"We were all blessed to know Mary Rose Oakar — a highly gifted, indefatigable extra

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