She was chairwoman of the House Ethics committee, a busy surrogate for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and a power player in the Democratic party.

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones was at the top of her game when she died suddenly of an aneurysm Wednesday at 58.

A Cleveland memorial service most likely will be held Aug. 30 and be followed by a separate Washington service at a still-to-be-determined date, spokeswoman Nicole Williams said Thursday. Arrangements had not yet been finalized, the aide said.

Tall and intense, Tubbs Jones towered over her colleagues, male and female both, and stood out not just because of her height but because of her disarming smile and penchant for wearing red - her "power color," she called it.

Her passions were Cleveland and "my manchild" - her son, Mervyn Jones, a student at Hiram College in Ohio.

"Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was a tremendously vibrant presence in the halls of Congress," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "She loved her hometown of Cleveland, and she believed that serving her constituents was the best job in the world."

President Bush praised her for standing up for schools, small businesses and better health care. "Our nation is grateful for her service," Bush said.

Tubbs Jones was the first African-America woman to be elected to Congress from Ohio, a spot she won in 1998 when she replaced near legendary Rep. Louis Stokes, a 15-term Democrat who was Ohio's first black member of Congress, and who hand-picked Tubbs Jones as his successor.

Stokes first noticed her when she ran for the Ohio Supreme Court in 1990. Tubbs Jones was narrowly defeated, but Stokes said he was impressed that the young woman was able to secure more than one million votes, he said.

"Her potential just shouted out to everybody," Stokes said.

In 2003, she had been the first African-American woman to score a seat on the Ways and Means Committee, after publicly protesting the fact that there were no women like herself on the panel. She used her spot on the committee to protect American workers from the effects of global trade, a cause important to Cleveland.

Pelosi later appointed Tubbs Jones - a former prosecutor and municipal judge - as the lead Democrat on the ethics committee, and she became the ethics chairwoman in 2007.

She and her staff immediately set out to revise the 16-year-old ethics manual, but Tubbs Jones faced criticism for not acting quickly enough on initiating investigations.

Tubbs Jones also clashed with the top Republican on the panel, Doc Hastings, who insisted that she open an investigation into Rep. William J. Jefferson, D-La., whom federal prosecutors charged with taking bribes. While Tubbs Jones suggested that Hastings himself had violated ethics rules, she also faced criticism for allegedly accepting trips paid for by private interests.

Rep. Gene Green, D-Texas, is next in line for the Ethics chairmanship, but it's too early to say who will replace Tubbs Jones on the that panel or the Ways and Means Committee, a House Democratic leadership aide said.

While working in that strictly behind-the-scenes post, Tubbs Jones also took on a high-profile role as surrogate and television face for the presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.

Tubbs Jones never wavered in her energetic work for that campaign, even when it became clear that Clinton's rival, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the preferred candidate in her own district.

She made no apologies for that, telling the Cleveland Plain Dealer, "If I'm drummed out of office for my loyalty and integrity, then throw me out."

"Stephanie's friendship meant the world to us, a friendship that deepened through every trial and challenge," said a statement from the Clinton family. "Over the course of many years, with many ups and many downs, Stephanie was right by our side - unwavering, indefatigable."

And though she continued to support Clinton after she lost the nomination, Tubbs Jones also went to bat for Obama once Clinton conceded that he would be the nominee.

"It wasn't enough for her just to break barriers in her own life," said the candidate. "She was also determined to bring opportunity to all those who had been overlooked and left behind - and in Stephanie, they had a fearless friend and unyielding advocate."

Tubbs Jones didn't limit herself to presidential politics. She was one of the first members of the Congressional Black Caucus to actively oppose the renomination of her Democratic colleague Rep. Steve Cohen, who is white and representing a primarily African-American district in Tennessee.

She instead contributed to and campaigned for Cohen's unsuccessful rival, airline executive Nikki Tinker, a member of Delta Sigma Theta, the same African-American sorority as Tubbs Jones.

In Cleveland

Born and raised in Cleveland, Tubbs Jones graduated from Case Western Reserve University law school in 1974, then took a job litigating for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Even after she came to Washington, Tubbs Jones continued to use her connections and power to influence politics in the Cleveland area. Her support was considered a major influence in the outcome of a 2005 contest in which Frank Jackson became the city's mayor.

But for Stokes, Tubbs Jones' greatest asset was her sparkling personality.

"Her love of people showed and people loved her back," he said.

"She ended every conversation with me by saying, 'love ya, Congressman.' "