The Austin American-Statesman reported Sept. 16 that Richards, a former smoker, died of squamous-cell esophagus cancer. Richards quit drinking and smoking in 1980 after an intervention organized by friends.

"Confronting my alcoholism was probably the hardest thing that anyone could deal with," she once said. Jan Reid, a longtime friend of Richards', said, "It was a hard beast to shake, and she was proud of herself for being able to do that."

Richards' drinking history became an issue in her races for state treasurer in 1982 and for Texas governor in 1990; a primary challenger once accused her of using cocaine, and opponent Clayton Williams expressed his hope that Richards "didn't go back to drinking again" when polls showed her trailing in the gubernatorial race.

That comment helped Richards get elected governor, some observers said.

"She was a Democrat's answer to Betty Ford," said Bill Wigmore, CEO of Austin Recovery. "This is an illness of denial, shame and keep it in the closet. Somebody who people look up to and who comes out and is honest about it ... that ripples through the community like a tsunami. It's huge."

Among Richards' accomplishments as governor of Texas was to add 2,000 treatment beds in state prison, with funding for a total of 14,000 beds getting legislative approval. However, when Richards lost the governor's seat to George W. Bush, he slashed the program; today, Texas has just 3,250 treatment beds for prisoners.

Richards later lost some fans in the addiction community, however, when she went to work for a Washington, D.C., law firm and lobbied on behalf of the tobacco industry, including helping persuade lawmakers to reject a plan to raise federal tobacco taxes to pay for youth smoking prevention. New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd slammed Richards' tobacco-industry work, "especially given the fact that the former Texas governor speaks movingly about being a recovering alcoholic who understands the iron trap of addiction."

Experts said the deadly form of cancer that killed Richards could well have been related to her history of alcohol and tobacco use.