WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Frances Lewine , who covered the White House for The Associated Press during six presidential administrations and spent nearly three decades as a CNN editor and producer , died Saturday of an apparent stroke . She was 86 . Frances Lewine holds two winning tickets in August 2007 at Charles Town Races in West Virginia . Lewine was regarded as a trailblazer who battled for women 's rights in journalism , fighting to open the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club -- a Washington journalists ' organization -- to women . `` It 's amazing that at her age , Fran was still staking out administration and elected officials after weekend talk shows , '' CNN Washington Bureau Chief David Bohrman said . `` All of journalism has lost a true pioneer . '' Lewine was assigned to the White House in 1956 to cover the activities of first ladies and the Washington social scene . But in 1965 she became the AP 's first full-time female White House correspondent . Take a look at Lewine 's career » . In 1977 she left AP to join the administration of President Jimmy Carter , and became the Department of Transportation 's deputy director of public affairs . When Carter left office in 1981 , Lewine moved to the newly created Cable News Network -- at age 60 -- as an assignment producer and field producer . `` When President Reagan was shot , I walked over to CNN that day and asked to help , '' Lewine said in a 2005 article in a newsletter for Time Warner , the parent company of CNN . `` My claim to fame was , I found out what type of gun was used . They paid me $ 80 for my work . '' Sunday would have been Lewine 's 87th birthday , co-workers said . She had been recovering from surgery , but was expected to return to the office as soon as this week . `` I do n't understand people who quit , '' Lewine said in the newsletter article . `` We have the best jobs in the world . I have a front-row seat to history . What are you going to do that 's possibly better than this ? '' Lewine was born in 1921 in New York and grew up in Far Rockaway . She graduated from New York 's Hunter College , where she edited the college newspaper and worked as a reporter for the Plainfield , New Jersey , Courier-News before moving to the Newark AP bureau . Lewine wrote that she began covering the White House full time `` with the arrival of the glamorous young Kennedys '' and recalled that her working attire often was an evening dress . She accompanied the family to Vienna , Paris , and Rome and followed first lady Jacqueline Kennedy on a vacation trip to India and Pakistan , as well as two yachting excursions in the Mediterranean . On one of those trips , the first lady 's staff attempted to keep reporters in Athens , Greece , Lewine recalled . But she and several other journalists on a rented yacht followed her from island to island and , `` much to the anger of the White House , '' kept track of the first lady 's activities by listening in on ship-to-shore radio . Lewine 's wrote that she was often frustrated at being `` relegated to social and family stories and sidebars while male colleagues covered the president . '' She wrote that it was a `` source of disappointment and anger '' that the AP never considered her an equal to male White House colleagues . That anger , she wrote , energized her `` to become a leader in the movement of women journalists in the 1950s , '60s and '70s to protest discrimination against women in their jobs and assignments . '' To protest the Gridiron Club 's policy against women , Lewine founded the `` Counter-Gridiron . '' A group of women reporters and sympathetic male reporters met regularly at her home to organize protests , she recalled . Eventually , she was the second woman invited to join the Gridiron . Lewine was one of six plaintiffs in a sex-discrimination suit filed against the AP , which was settled out of court for $ 2 million and changed the news organization 's policies . Lewine was also a member of the National Press Club , Executive Women in Government and the Society of Professional Journalists . She was elected to the Washington Society of Professional Journalists ' Hall of Fame and to the Hunter College Hall of Fame . Last year , she was awarded the Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism , the highest honor bestowed by the Missouri School of Journalism . `` In times like these , when the credibility of our nation and our president often comes into question , it is the reporter on the scene that can raise issues and put the spotlight on problems so the nation can address them , '' she said in her acceptance speech . `` Reporters should understand that they have an obligation to search for the truth and to stand in the front line in holding governments and officials accountable for their actions . '' E-mail to a friend .
Frances Lewine , who died at age 86 , battled for women 's rights in journalism . In 1965 , she became AP 's first full-time female White House correspondent . For nearly three decades , she was a CNN assignment editor and field producer . She also wrote several books about her experiences as an American woman during World War II.