Dianne Feinstein The lioness of the Senate

IN HER PRIME, NO ONE RIVALED DIANNE Feinstein, the veteran lawmaker who defied both label and party orthodoxy during decades at the heart of some of the nation's defining moments.

- PHILIP ELLIOTT

She knew what it was like to lose; even before arriving in Washington, the Democrat had two failed bids for San Francisco mayor and one for California governor under her belt, not to mention the trauma of finding her friends immediately after a former colleague assassinated them in San Francisco city hall back in 1978. The losses informed her need to make wins count all the more.

And did she ever win.

Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the Senate, died on Sept. 29 at the age of 90 as the upper chamber's oldest member.

Her health in recent months generated plenty of chatter about overstaying one's welcome. Hospitalized in February with shingles that later turned out to include encephalitis, she was dogged by concerns about her ability to do her job, but Feinstein refused to step down.