(CNN) -- Funeral services for former vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro were held Thursday morning in New York. The 9:30 a.m. service at the Church of Saint Vincent Ferrer was for family and friends and was closed to the press, a family statement said. A resident of New York City, Ferraro died Saturday at Massachusetts General Hospital. Ferraro's cause of death was complications from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer she had battled for 12 years, according to a statement released by her family in Boston. In 1984, the congresswoman from New York became the first female vice-presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party when she was picked as the running mate for Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale.
NEW: A funeral service is held for 1984 vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro . Ferraro died Saturday after a 12-year battle with blood cancer . Ferraro was the first woman nominated for a major party's national ticket .