(LEXINGTON, Ky.) — Martha Layne Collins, Kentucky’s first and only female governor who transformed the state’s economic landscape during her tenure in the 1980s, passed away early Saturday morning at a Lexington retirement facility. She was 88 years old.
Collins died peacefully in her sleep at approximately 3 a.m. at Richmond Place, according to her husband, Dr. Bill Collins.
During her single term as governor from 1983 to 1987, Collins achieved what many considered her administration’s crowning accomplishment: successfully attracting Toyota’s first major U.S. manufacturing facility to Georgetown, Kentucky. The deal fundamentally reshaped the state’s industrial base and set Kentucky on a path toward becoming a national automotive manufacturing hub.
Collins made history when she took office, breaking barriers as the Commonwealth’s sole woman to hold its highest executive position—a distinction that remains unchanged nearly four decades later.
She and her husband had been residing at the Lexington retirement community at the time of her death.
Details regarding memorial services were not immediately available.
