Zandra Flemister is known as the first Black woman to serve as a Secret Service agent. On Feb. 21, she passed away at 71 years old. According to The Washington Post, Fleimster was fighting Alzheimer’s.

Flemister was born in Frankfurt, Germany, and raised in Connecticut. After graduating from  Northeastern University in 1973, she was hired by the Secret Service in 1974, becoming the first Black woman to join the agency. Fleimster was assigned to protect the daughters of two U.S. presidents, but resigned in 1978 after facing intense discrimination, even being told she could not wear her hair in an afro, which was the style at the time.  She would eventually join the United States Foreign Service.

Kimberly Cheatle,  director of the Secret Service said that Flemister was a “trailblazer who dedicated her life to service and inspired a future generation of agents.”

In 2000, she filed a class-action lawsuit against the Secret Service, alleging discrimination. However, due to her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s she was unable to continue the lawsuit. By 2011, at only 59, she retired due to Alzheimer’s. However, the lawsuit continued with more than 100 Black members of the Secret Service. In 2017, the Secret Service agreed to a $24 million settlement but admitted no wrongdoing.

Zandra Flemister is survived by her husband of 42 years, John Collinge, and her son, Samuel Collinge.