export_ofoct.com

[00:00.17] 2024 is just hours away. Before the world welcomes a new year, we remember some of the influential people who died in 2023.

[00:17.72] We start with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

[00:25.15] O’Connor died on December 1.

[00:27.01] She made history in 1981 when she became the first woman appointed to the United States’ highest court. S

[00:37.93] he served in the position for 25 years.

[00:44.04] The judge was considered a centrist, or a moderate, in her court opinions.

[00:50.41] She was often considered the “swing vote” on major issues such as abortion, affirmative action and voting rights.

[01:03.70] Sandra Day O’Connor was born in El Paso, Texas in 1930.

[01:11.40] She grew up on a large cow farm there.

[01:16.18] The young Sandra was an excellent student and entered Stanford University in California when she was 16, earning a degree in economics.

[01:31.06] She went on to study law at Stanford.

[01:35.31] She graduated in the top 10 percent of her class in 1952.

[01:43.81] President Ronald Reagan nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1981.

[01:53.91] In announcing his choice, he described the judge as “a person for all seasons.”

[02:02.93] American President Joe Biden spoke at her funeral.

[02:07.71] He called her “a daughter of the West” and “a pioneer in her own right.”

[02:15.68] He praised her for seeking, in his words, “equal justice under law her whole life.”

[02:24.45] O’Connor died from problems linked to the disease dementia and a lung infection.

[02:32.41] She was 93 years old.

[02:36.66] The world also said goodbye to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who died November 29.

[02:48.09] He was 100 years old.