RALEIGH, N.C. — Jeanette Wallace Hyde, a longtime activist and fundraiser in North Carolina and national Democratic politics who served in the 1990s as the U.S. ambassador to several Caribbean countries, has died at age 86.

Hyde died on Monday at her Raleigh home following a period of declining health, family member Tom Hendrickson said Wednesday.

Hyde and her late husband, Wallace, were a political power couple, opening their home to state and national Democratic candidates. Hendrickson said the likes of Bill and Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, as well as state political notables Terry Sanford, Jim Hunt, Mike Easley, Beverly

Perdue and Roy Cooper, visited the Hyde home for fundraisers. She was also involved in Democratic political strategy, particularly efforts to boost women’s influence in politics, as well as pushing for the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, according to an obituary provided by the family. She served as a co-chair of the Clinton-Gore campaign in North Carolina in 1992.

Once president, Bill Clinton in 1994 appointed Hyde as ambassador to Barbados, Dominica, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis. The Hydes lived in Barbados for four years, with her ambassadorship ending in 1998.

“Ambassador Hyde was a force to be reckoned with in our party,” state Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said Wednesday on X, adding that the state party “is a better place because of her steadfast leadership and grit.”

Wallace and Jeanette Hyde married in 1985. Wallace, whose career included work in the insurance field and education, died in 2013. A memorial service will be held next Tuesday at White Memorial Presbyterian Church in Raleigh.