At 70 years old, the reporter who broke the gender gap in NHL locker rooms died.

WALTHAM, Mass. Robin Herman, a pioneering reporter who broke all gender barriers for The New York Times, died. She was the first female journalist to interview players after an NHL game. Herman was 70 years old. Her husband Paul Horvitz told The New York Times that Herman had died from ovarian cancer Tuesday at their Waltham, Mass. home.

Robin was a Swiss Army Knife journalist. She covered fires, AIDS, gold madness, hostages in Iran, and homelessness, and she lived in hippie communal living.” The former Times editor recalled her memories in a series tweets on Thursday.

Herman was a reporter for the New York Islanders hockey team. She and another female reporter were permitted to interview players in the locker rooms, as their male counterparts were often allowed to do after the 1975 All-Star Game in Montreal.

In a piece for The Times, Herman recalled how she hoped that her “mini sports history moment” would be quietly overlooked. The locker room became a “circus scene”, with players scrambling for towels, photographers scrambling for cameras, and two female reporters suddenly being “the news of their hour.”

Herman wrote, “It was a significant moment for it loudly announced the fact that female athleteswriters are a reality and that they must dealt with.”

Herman was later assigned to other Times assignments, and she also wrote for The International Herald Tribune. She also worked in the health section of The Washington Post. Herman also co-authored Fusion: The Search For Endless Energy in 1990.

Herman was appointed assistant dean of communications at Harvard University’s School of Public Health, and he retired in 2012.

The Association for Women in Sports Media tweeted, “Robin helped pave a way for so many female athletes by breaking many gender barriers that allowed them to follow in her footsteps,”

Herman was born in New York City in 1951. Herman also achieved other firsts during her life: Herman was also part the first class of Princeton University women admitted.

She leaves behind two adult children as well as other relatives. According to the Boston Globe, Herman will be buried in Cambridge, Mass. and an event of remembrance will take place later.