After conflicting media reports, The New York Times, citing a Cleveland Clinic spokesman, confirms the passing of Representative Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, at 6:12 PM today. The Congresswoman was most recently a startlingly effective advocate for the Presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Clinton, though she endorsed Democratic nominee Barack Obama in June. Tubbs Jones was one of those rare figures that combine instinctively compelling leadership abilities with the grace of true humility. She will be sorely missed, and the nation is poorer for her passing.