Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois’ First Female House Majority Leader and a Progressive Champion, Dies at 85

Barbara Flynn Currie, Illinois’ first female House majority leader and a progressive champion, dies at 85

Barbara Flynn Currie served in the Illinois House from 1979 to 2019 and was the House majority leader for 20 of those years as the top deputy to then-longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan.

Barbara Flynn Currie, 'trailblazer who opened doors for generations of women' dies

The Illinois House majority leader for 20 years, Currie harkened back to a more civil time in politics.

Barbara Flynn Currie, Hyde Park's state legislator for 4 decades, dies at 85

Barbara Flynn Currie, who represented Hyde Park and surrounding South Side lakefront communities in the Illinois House for 40 years and became the chamber’s first female majority leader, died Thursday at 85.

Barbara Flynn Currie, ‘trailblazer who opened doors for generations of women’ dies

After a vote in the Illinois House on a key part of then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s pension relief plan in 2016, Barbara Flynn Currie did something not often seen in these times of divided, dysfunctional government. She crossed the aisle and shook hands with the three Republican lawmakers who broke ranks with the GOP and voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a measure deferring police and fire pension payments. That was Currie, 85, who died Th…