LANSING, Mich.—Elly Peterson, a pioneering former chairwoman of the Michigan Republican Party who devoted herself to passing the Equal Rights Amendment has died. She was 94.

Peterson died Monday in Grand Junction, Colo., where she had moved several years ago, said longtime friend Joyce Braithwaite-Brickley.

Peterson was the first woman to head a major political party in Michigan, serving as state Republican chairwoman from 1965-69.

She also was the first Michigan woman to be nominated for the U.S. Senate, the first to address a National Republican Convention, the first to twice co-chair the Republican National Committee and the first to serve as deputy campaign chairman for a presidential candidate.

She was a national co-chairwoman of ERAmerica, a private national campaign organization, during the fight to get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified. Peterson also strongly supported abortion rights. She was a charter member in the National Women’s Political Caucus and was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1984.