Janet Reno dead: First woman to serve as US attorney general dies aged 78

Janet Reno (AP)

Janet Reno, the first woman to serve as a US attorney general, has died from complications related to Parkinson’s disease aged 78.

Her goddaughter told the Associated Press Reno passed away in her home in Florida surrounded by her family.

Reno was appointed attorney general in 1993 and served two terms in Bill Clinton’s cabinet, weathering the storms which raged throughout his presidency. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1995 after noticing a tremor in her hand.

A former Miami prosecutor, she also served during two major controversies: the deadly siege on the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, during which 76 people died, and the deportation of Elian Gonzalez, a Cuban castaway locked in a custody battle between his relatives in the US and his father in Cuba.

She was accused of trying to protect Mr Clinton by refusing to grant an independent counsel permission to investigation allegations surrounding fundraising, according to the New York Times.

A straight-talking attorney general, she was famous for telling reporters “I don’t do spin” and for her catchphrase: “the buck stops with me.”​

Reno launched an unsuccessful bid for governor of Florida in 2002.