India, May 20 -- Barney Frank, the progressive Democrat who led one of the most important financial reform laws since the Great Depression, passed away on Tuesday night following a struggle with congestive heart failure. He was 86 years old.

"He was, above all else, a wonderful brother. I was lucky to be his sister," Frank's sister, Doris Breay, stated to NBC10 Boston on Wednesday morning while confirming her brother's death.

The former congressman from Massachusetts spent his final months receiving hospice care at his residence in Ogunquit, Maine, which is the hometown of his spouse, Jim Ready.

Born in 1940 in Bayonne, New Jersey, Frank advocated for a diverse range of issues throughout his 32-year tenure - including abortion rights, ...