MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Ada Deer, an esteemed Native American leader from Wisconsin and the first woman to lead the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has died at 88. Deer’s godson Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, confirmed Wednesday that Deer had died in hospice care of natural causes on Tuesday evening. Deer was born on a Menominee reservation in Keshena, Wisconsin, in 1935. She was influential in repealing policies that took away federal recognition for Native American Tribes. In 1992 she narrowly lost a bid for U.S. Congress. In 2019 she was inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame, and earlier this month Gov. Tony Evers declared her birthday as Ada Deer Day in Wisconsin.
