NEW YORK (AP) — Angela “Big Ang” Raiola, the raspy-voiced bar owner who gained fame on the reality TV series “Mob Wives,” died early Thursday, nearly a year after being diagnosed with throat cancer. She was 55.

Raiola died at a New York City hospital while surrounded by friends and family, said series producer Jennifer Graziano.

A statement posted from Raiola’s Twitter account said she had “peacefully ended her battle with cancer.”

Even as she fought the disease, the native New Yorker remained the candid, colorful figure that viewers came to know on VH1’s “Mob Wives” and her two sequels.

“You can call me Angela. I’ll call you handsome,” she told host Dr. Mehmet Oz.