Tish Naghise, a first-term member of the Georgia House, passed away on March 8, 2023, at the age of 59 following an undisclosed illness.

According to Kaleb McMichen, a spokesperson for House Speaker Jon Burns, Tish Naghise died at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, where she had been hospitalized for several days, said Wan Smith, a friend and former coworker.

“She was an extraordinary servant leader, an extraordinary and multifaceted leader, who didn’t start or stop with the legislature,” said Smith, who supervised Naghise when Naghise worked for the Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund, an environmental advocacy group.

The Democrat described Naghise as “a kind, caring, hardworking, and committed community leader and public servant” in a statement Wednesday.

Tish Naghise won a Democratic primary in House District 68, which includes Atlanta suburbs in southern Fulton and northern Fayette counties, before easily beating a Republican in November.

Tish Naghise said on her website that she got involved in Democratic politics when Barack Obama ran for election in the 2008 presidential race.

She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2020 and a former state committee member. She volunteered for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s initial unsuccessful U.S. House run in 2017.