Aster-Obit: Dianne Feinstein
US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) passed away peacefully at her Washington DC home on 29 September 2023, bringing an end to an era. Her health had been in decline for some time, but the death itself was sudden and unexpected. At 90, with some thirty years in the Senate, Feinstein had become a Washington institution, initially elected in 1992 as California’s first female Senator, and first female Jewish Senator in the US. Reelected five times, in recent months ill health had kept her absent from Judiciary Committee meetings for long periods, imperiling the Democrats’ fragile majority and delaying numerous judicial appointments. In February 2023 she announced she would not run for reelection when her term expired in 2024.
