Former Rep. Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to voluntarily announce he was gay, who rose to lead the House Financial Services Committee at a seminal moment in American economic history, died Tuesday night. He was 86.

The progressive Frank had among the sharpest wits of members of the House and was known at times for legendary impatience.

He entered hospice care last month at his home in Ogunquit, Maine, while dealing with congestive heart failure. The NBC affiliate in Boston said the former congressman’s sister confirmed his death.

Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat who came out in 1987, served in the House from 1981-2013. He will be most remembered legislatively for the landmark financial regulatory overhaul of 2010, known as Dodd-Frank, named for him and then-Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Chairman Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn.

He also played a leading role in the congressional response to the 2008 financial crisis, when he was among those to guide into law the $700 billion package of assistance for the financial services sector and a government rescue of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., labeled him a “maestro” when the House passed the measure in October 2008, four days after it had rejected an earlier version.

“Coming from a shared family tradition of service, Chairman Frank’s unsurpassed intellect and commitment to service has left a lasting legislative legacy,” Pelosi said in a statement. “All of us fortunate enough to serve alongside him were blessed by his boundless knowledge, sage wisdom and great humor.”

After growing up in Bayonne, N.J., Frank went to Harvard and stuck around to teach government and do graduate work.

 Between 1968 and 1971, he worked for Boston Mayor Kevin White and was later administrative assistant to Rep. Michael Harrington, D-Mass., gaining contacts that helped him win a seat in the state House. He had been there eight years when Democratic Rep. Robert F. Drinan, a liberal Catholic priest, bowed to a papal prohibition on clergymen holding public office. Frank won the seat with 52 percent of the vote against a Republican who portrayed him as too liberal.

“At a time when our community was being devastated by AIDS and too many leaders looked away, he demanded action,” Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said in a statement. “He helped pave the way for the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ stronger federal protections, marriage equality, and a future where LGBTQ+ people could see themselves not just represented but leading at the highest levels of government. We are holding his husband, family, and loved ones in our hearts as we honor his life of service.”

Frank had recently announced he was preparing a book. In a New York Times interview published May 12, the progressive Frank warned Democrats on the left about overreach that alienated potential voters.

“When we were fighting for gay rights — a fight I think we have essentially won — we knew that some issues were more popular than others. So we tended to start by trying to win the ones that were most popular. Gays in the military. Employment. We didn’t go after same-sex marriage, we didn’t make marriage a litmus test, until the very end,” Frank said.