Evelyn V. Fargnoli, 93, the first female president of the Providence City Council, died Thursday at Philip Hulitar Hospice Center in Providence. Fargnoli was elected to the council in a 1982 special election to fill the seat left vacant when her husband, City Council President Ralph R. Fargnoli, died. That made her the second woman to serve on the council.

She was elected council president in 1996 after serving as acting president for a year and a half due to the illness of then-president James A. Petrosinelli. She retired from the council as president in 1998 after 16 years on the panel.