HOUSTON — Rod Paige, former U.S. Secretary of Education and influential Houston schools leader, has died at 92.

According to a statement from his family, Paige died Tuesday morning at his home with his wife Stephanie at his side.

Paige, who made history in 2001 as the nation’s first Black education secretary, spent decades working in public education. This began in the classroom, then to the Houston Independent School District, and eventually the federal government.

Former President George W. Bush, who appointed Paige to lead the Department of Education, released a statement Tuesday saying he and former First Lady Laura Bush were saddened by the news.

“Rod was a leader and a friend,” Bush said in the statement. “Unsatisfied with the status quo, he challenged what we called ‘the soft bi

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