news-record.com

RALEIGH (AP) — A longtime member of the state school board has died from injuries she suffered in a weekend assault, her family said today.

Raleigh police and Kathy A. Taft's family said the 62-year-old Greenville woman died Tuesday.

Police spokesman Jim Sughrue says officers are now investigating the case as a homicide.

Her family said in a statement issued by WakeMed Hospital in Raleigh that Taft was attacked Saturday while staying at the Raleigh home of her boyfriend, who was in Florida at the time.

Taft has been on the state Board of Education since 1995. She was reappointed to serve a second term until March 2011.

Taft ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat in 2008. Her ex-husband is Tom Taft, a former state senator from Greenville.

Gov. Bev Perdue issued a statement after Taft's death: “I have known Kathy Taft as a dear friend for more than 25 years. The kindness she showed me, as a fellow woman from down east working to make a difference, is something I will never forget. Her passion for education and for finding every opportunity to better serve North Carolina’s children has clearly made this state a better place to live and raise a family. For that, we all owe Kathy a debt of gratitude. I will miss her terribly.”