KESHENA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Influential Menominee leader Ada Deer has died.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin announced Deer’s death on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers declared Ada Deer Day in honor of her 88th birthday.
Deer was born in Keshena in 1935. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, becoming the first member of the Menominee tribe to earn a degree from the university. Deer then became the first Native American person to earn a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University.
Deer was instrumental in gaining federal recognition of the tribe in 1973. The next year, she became the first woman to be elected tribal chair, a position she held for two years.
In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Deer Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior. She was the first woman to hold that position.
Deer ran for Wisconsin secretary of state in 1978 and 1982, and the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.
