A politician considered to be the mother of the modern Scottish independence movement has died at the age of 93. Winnie Ewing’s relatives announced Thursday that she died on Wednesday “surrounded by her family.” Ewing was elected to the U.K. Parliament in 1967 for the pro-independence Scottish Nationalist Party. She later served in the European Parliament and in the Scottish parliament which was established in 1999. She helped transform the SNP from a fringe party into the dominant force in Scottish politics. But the party’s goal of independence from the U.K. remains elusive. Former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the independence movement had lost “a beloved icon.”