Janet Reno died at age 78 at her Miami-Dade County home from complications of Parkinson's disease.
Janet Reno died on November 7, 2016, at her home in Miami-Dade County, Florida, at the age of 78, following a lengthy battle with Parkinson's disease, with which she had been diagnosed in the mid-1990s while serving as U.S. Attorney General.
Despite her diagnosis, Reno had continued to serve in office for years, managing the progressive neurological condition with characteristic determination and openness, discussing her condition publicly to reduce stigma around Parkinson's disease. After leaving office in 2001, she remained active in public life, including an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Florida in 2002, and later served as a founding director of the Innocence Project, supporting DNA-based exoneration efforts and criminal justice reform.
Her death prompted tributes from across the political spectrum, including from former President Bill Clinton, who praised her integrity and devotion to public service, and from legal organizations and women's rights advocates who recognized her as a trailblazer who broke one of the most significant glass ceilings in American governmental history.
Reno's legacy endures through the countless women in law enforcement and government who credit her as an inspiration, through institutions like the Innocence Project that continue her criminal justice reform work, and through her enduring reputation as a principled, independent public servant who prioritized the rule of law above political convenience throughout her extraordinary career.