AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Myra McDaniel, the first black to be appointed Texas secretary of state, has died at age 77.

McDaniel's husband, Reuben McDaniel Jr., says she died Thursday morning at their Austin home after a battle with lung cancer. He said she had been working part time as a lawyer for the Austin firm Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta LLP when she became ill.

Then-Gov. Mark White appointed the former assistant state attorney general in 1984. She resigned in 1987. She served as counsel to Austin Community College and Capital Metro and became managing partner of the Bickerstaff Heath firm in 1995.

McDaniel grew up in Philadelphia and earned an English degree from the University of Pennsylvania. After working for five years as a management analyst, she married and had two children before entering the University of Texas School of Law.

Funeral is pending.