INDIANAPOLIS — Former Indiana First Lady Susan Bayh died Friday at 61 after years of brain cancer treatments, her family announced.

"It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Susan Breshears Bayh after a long and courageous fight against glioblastoma and its complications," her family said in a statement.

Susan was the first lady of Indiana from 1989-1997, when her husband, Evan, was governor.

In May 2018, she had surgery to remove a tumor related to a form of brain cancer.

In 2015, Susan Bayh had surgery to remove a benign tumor in Washington, D.C. At the time, she reported headaches for about 2 1/2 weeks before a scan found a plum-sized tumor.

Birch Evans Bayh III (/baɪ/ BY;[1] born December 26, 1955) is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and politician of the Democratic Party who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.

Bayh was first elected to public office as the Secretary of State of Indiana in 1986. He held the position for two years before being elected Governor. He left his office after completing two terms and briefly took a job lecturing at Indiana University Bloomington. He was elected to Congress as a Senator in 1998 and reelected in 2004.

On February 15, 2010, Bayh unexpectedly announced he would not seek reelection to the Senate in 2010. After leaving the Senate, he was replaced by his predecessor, Dan Coats, and became a partner with the law and lobbying firm McGuireWoods in the firm's Washington, D.C. office,[2] and also became a senior adviser with Apollo Global Management. He was a part-time contributor for Fox News from March 2011 to July 2016.[3] In June 2011 he became a messaging adviser for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.[4] On October 27, 2011, it was announced that Berry Plastics Corp. had appointed Bayh to its board of directors.[5]