M. Jodi Rell, the governor who helped restore trust in politics after her predecessor’s corruption scandal, died Wednesday night after a brief illness. She was 78.

Connecticut’s second female leader, and last Republican governor, is being remembered as a trailblazing reformer who brought kindness and compassion to the job.

Jodi Rell was never supposed to become governor – at least, not like the way she did. She stepped in after Gov. John Rowland resigned in 2004 amid a federal corruption probe.

“Gov. Rell took over at a dark time in Connecticut, in the wake of former Gov. Rowland resigning as he was facing impeachment,” said Rell’s successor, former Gov. Dannel Malloy. “She steadied the ship and returned a sense of decency and honesty to state government.”

Rowland pleaded guilty to bid rigging and served 10 months in prison. On Thursday, he offered praise to the woman who replaced him.

“I always had great respect for her,” Rowland told NBC Connecticut. “Her demeanor and the way she approached problems and the way she worked with people. She was a great partner.”

Critics dismissed Rell as “the accidental governor.” But she won re-election in 2006 by a wide margin and left office with historically high approval ratings, despite the state budget taking a beating during the 2008 recession.

“It’s truly been an honor,” she told News 12 Connecticut in 2010. “It’s been my privilege to serve as governor. I never thought I would be governor of the state.”

Rell had the monumental task of restoring public trust after the Rowland scandal.

“She implemented things like the clean election laws,” said Gayle Alberda, a former Republican Party official who now teaches at Fairfield University. “She worked with really just making sure that government was something that the people could trust again.”

Rell was also a champion for gay rights when it was politically unpopular. In 1991, she was one of only 13 Republicans to support the nation’s first anti-LGBTQ discrimination law. Later as governor, Rell made same-sex unions – and then marriage – legal.

“I am positive that she wanted to do it for personal reasons,” said Joe Grabarz, Connecticut’s first openly gay state lawmaker. “She expressed to me how personal it was for her to do that. Our relationship was important.”

But Rell was most known for her kindness. She would personally call and write notes to people when they faced difficult or happy times.

“Jodi Rell was someone that was universally liked and admired by people on both sides of the aisle because she was hard-working, she was compassionate,” said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz.

Connecticut Republican Party chairman Ben Proto said Rell’s authenticity made her so popular.

“That's one of the things I always try to talk to candidates about,” Proto said. “And I think Jodi was the perfect example of that.”

Rell was the state’s second female governor. New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, who is exploring a run for governor herself in 2026, called her an inspiration.

“Gov. Rell took a chance on me at 19 years old and drastically shaped the woman and leader I’ve became,” Stewart said on X. “I was lucky to work for her and even luckier to have her support as I entered into politics on my own.”

Five months after taking office, Rell had a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after breast cancer was discovered following a routine mammogram. Nine days after her surgery, Rell returned to the state Capitol to deliver her first State of the State address and was greeted by cheers and a longstanding ovation. Many lawmakers wore pink ribbons in support of breast cancer research.

“I have been unexpectedly confronted with my own mortality as I was told that I had cancer,” she said. “I am looking at things a little differently now, with different eyes. Eyes more focused on what is truly important, what is truly necessary.”

Rell retied to Florida, where she died at a hospital Wednesday night, to be closer to her grandchildren.

One of her last public appearances was at the Rell Center for Public Service at the University of Hartford. She joined Gov. Ned Lamont to discuss the importance of bipartisanship.

“She was a friend,” Lamont told reporters Thursday. “[She] was always there at our holiday party at the residence, always there to greet the young people as they came in with a big smile.”

Rell also attended Lamont’s first inauguration in 2019. When she left office, Rell offered once piece of advice to politicians.

“Trust the people,” she said in 2010. “They’re very smart. They will help you if you just engage them.”

Lamont ordered flags to be lowered in Rell’s honor. Funeral arrangements are not set yet.