Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve as U.S. secretary of state, died Wednesday from cancer at age 84, according to her family.

       She was nominated for secretary of state by President Bill Clinton and served in the role from 1997 to 2001.

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       Secretary of State Madeleine Albright at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the pending fiscal 2001 foreign aid budget, Feb. 08, 2000.

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       In a State Department briefing Wednesday, spokesperson Ned Price said President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been notified of her death.

       "The impact that Secretary Albright ... had on this building is felt every single day in just about every single corridor," Price said.

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       Madeleine Albright is sworn-in by Vice President Al Gore (R) as the first woman to be Secretary of State, at the White House, Jan. 24, 1997.

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       Georgetown Univiversity professor Madeleine Albright, foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, in her office.

       Price said Albright was a mentor to Blinken, his deputy Wendy Sherman and many others.

       "She was as trailblazer as the first female secretary of state, and quite literally opened doors for a large element of our work force," Price said.

       "She took so many people under her wing that you have to imagine just how large that wingspan came to be," Price said. "So it's a really devastating piece of news. I know there are many people in this building who are grieving and will be grieving today. And our thoughts of course are with her family and the many, many people she touched in this building, in this country and around the world."

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       Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State, speaks during an Atlantic Council event in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Dec. 7, 2017.

       U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Wednesday at the U.N. General Assembly meeting, "Secretary Albright was a mentor. She was my boss, both as secretary of state; I worked with her in Georgetown. She was a colleague and she was a friend over several decades."

       "She left an indelible mark on the world and on the United Nations. Our country and our United Nations are stronger for her service," Thomas-Greenfield said.

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       In this July 26, 2016, file photo, former secretary of state Madeleine Albright delivers remarks on the second day of the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center, in Philadelphia.

       "Her story -- a story of fleeing Czechoslovakia as a refugee at a young age and rising in the highest levels of the U.S. government -- has echoed in my mind amid the current crisis in Ukraine," Thomas-Greenfield continued. "I hope to do justice for her memory today. I’m sure that we will have an opportunity to remember Secretary Albright and honor her many contributions in the days ahead. But today, I grieve her as my friend and extend my condolences to her family."

       Albright's family said in a statement, "A tireless champion of democracy and human rights, she was at the time of her death a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, chair of Albright Stonebridge Group, part of Dentons Global Advisors, chair of Albright Capital Management, president of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, chair of the National Democratic Institute, chair of the U.S. Defense Policy Board, and an author."

       ABC’s Michelle Franzen reports:

       ABC News' Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.