Former U.S. Representative Barney Frank, a key architect of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, died at age 86, his sister Ann Lewis confirmed on Wednesday.
Frank served over 30 years in Congress representing Massachusetts. He was one of the first openly gay members of Congress and a liberal who worked across the aisle.
The Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, tightened banking regulations and created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to prevent a repeat of the 2008 crisis.
Frank shepherded the $700 billion TARP bank bailout through the House in 2008. He famously joked: 'Things would have sucked worse without me.'
His reputation suffered in 2023 when Signature Bank, where he served on the board, collapsed.
Frank was the first sitting congressman to voluntarily come out as gay. He married his partner Jim Ready in 2012.
He retired in 2013, quipping he no longer had to pretend to be nice to people he disliked.
