LONDON, Aug 5, (AP): Stella Rimington, the first female chief of Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency and later a successful thriller writer, has died, her family said Monday. She was 90. The first woman to head a UK intelligence agency, Rimington was the inspiration for Judi Dench’s portrayal of MI6 chief M in seven James Bond films. Her family said in a statement that Rimington died on Sunday "surrounded by her beloved family and dogs and determinedly held on to the life she loved until her last breath.”

MI5’s current director-general, Ken McCallum, said that "as the first avowed female head of any intelligence agency in the world, Dame Stella broke through long-standing barriers and was a visible example of the importance of diversity in leadership.” Born in London in 1935, Rimington studied English at Edinburgh University and later worked as an archivist.

She was living in India with her diplomat husband in the mid-1960s when she was recruited by MI5, Britain’s domestic security service, as a part-time clerk and typist in its New Delhi office. She joined the agency full-time after moving back to London in 1969 and rose through the ranks, overcoming rules that kept the most prestigious roles, such as recruiting and running agents, for men only.

She worked in each of MI5’s operational branches - counterespionage, counterterrorism and counter-subversion - at a time when MI5’s work included sniffing out Soviet spies, infiltrating Northern Ireland militant groups and, controversially, spying on leftists, trade union leaders and other alleged subversives. Rimington acknowledged in 2001 that the organization "may have been a bit over-enthusiastic” in some of its snooping on domestic targets during the Cold War.