LONDON (AP) — Tessa Jowell, the former U.K. culture secretary who played a key role in securing the 2012 London Olympics, has died. She was 70.

Her family said in a statement released Sunday that Jowell died peacefully at the family home in Warwickshire. Jowell, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor last year, used her position in the House of Lords to campaign for better access to experimental treatment and delivered a memorable speech that moved her fellow peers to tears.

The family says that "in addition to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, in recent months doctors tried innovative new treatments which Tessa gladly embraced, but sadly the tumor recently progressed very quickly."

Among those offering condolences were former Prime Minister Tony Blair who praised Jowell's "passion, determination and simple human decency."