Former Democrat Congressman Barney Frank passed away on Tuesday night, his sister and a close family friend confirmed. He was 86. Frank, who served in Congress for over three decades, entered hospice care at his home in Maine last month. Former Democrat Congressman Enters Hospice Care NBC Boston shared further: Frank had been in hospice care at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, in recent months, being treated for congestive heart failure. He is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, and sisters, Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, along with brother David Frank. "He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister," Breay told NBC10 Boston this morning. Born in 1940 in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank wrote in his 2015 memoir that he was drawn to public life after Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old from Chicago, was lynched by white men in Mississippi. Frank entered politics in 1968 as an aide to Boston Mayor Kevin White before winning a seat in the Massachusetts House in 1972. Frank was elected to Congress in 1980, representing Massachusetts until 2013. Frank, who was known for his focus on marginalized communities, publicly came out as gay in 1987, the first member of Congress to do so voluntarily. With his 2012 marriage to Ready, he became the first incumbent lawmaker on Capitol Hill to marry someone of the same sex. By 2007, Frank was the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, where he would leave his lasting policy mark as the U.S. economy careened toward collapse. He worked with the Republican Bush administration to pass a rescue package, providing vital support to financial institutions but spurring a populist revolt that still courses through American politics. "Barney Frank was one of a kind. For more than three decades in Congress, he fought tirelessly for the people of Massachusetts, helped make housing more affordable, stood up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, and helped pass one of the most sweeping financial reforms in history designed to protect consumers and prevent another financial crisis," Barack Obama said. "Barney’s passion and wit were second to none, and our thoughts are with his family today," he added. Barney Frank was one of a kind. For more than three decades in Congress, he fought tirelessly for the people of Massachusetts, helped make housing more affordable, stood up for the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans, and helped pass one of the most sweeping financial reforms in history… pic.twitter.com/GS3iDLOlGz — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 20, 2026 More from The New York Times: His most significant legislative achievement was in the realm of financial regulation. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which he sponsored with Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, tightened rules on the financial industry as part of the government’s response to the housing crisis of 2007 and the global financial meltdown the next year. Signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, the measure sought to prevent the nation’s biggest banks from engaging in excessively risky behavior and to protect consumers from unfair practices by banks and lenders. Congress watered it down in 2018, chiefly by exempting smaller and midsize banks from stricter oversight, but it remained largely intact. Mr. Frank was also known for championing gay rights, civil rights and women’s rights. He did so by force of personality and by example. He insisted that his male partner be invited to all events to which the spouses of other representatives were invited. In 2012, at age 72, he married Jim Ready and became the first sitting member of Congress to wed someone of the same sex. He also worked quietly behind the scenes to advance his causes. In one of many examples, according to his memoir, “Frank: A Life in Politics From the Great Society to Same-Sex Marriage” (2015), he helped persuade President Bill Clinton not to appoint Senator Sam Nunn of Georgia as secretary of state because of his track record of homophobia. Growing up in a working-class family in New Jersey, Mr. Frank was drawn from an early age to politics, stemming from his sense of himself as a minority and outsider.