And so Sheila Bair, one of the most influential and passionate of financial regulators, will  ride into the sunset. She has announced she will step down as head of the FDIC on July 8, leaving some significant accomplishments in her wake.

The moderate Republican--a hero to small banks, a bane to large banks--battled all comers passionately, within the government and without.

Bair presided over what some consider a major milestone in March, when the board of the FDIC unanimously approved a proposed rule set that would allow it to wind down large systemically important banks in an orderly fashion. The rules detail how creditors can file claims and how those claims will be processed. To some, it represents a major step to end the too-big-to-fail plague that has long gripped the top banks.

"This situation can only be regarded as a new and dangerous form of state capitalism, where the market assumes large, complex and powerful financial companies are in line to receive generous government subsidies in times of financial distress," she said at a recent conference speaking about too-big-to-fail, notes Reuters.

Bair didn't win every battle; she perhaps would have liked to have seen top managers at Citigroup with a bit more consumer experience. But no one questioned her resolve or her heart.

Bair has said she would like to return to academia or non-profit work and that she doesn't intend to go into lobbying, even though she could make millions in that capacity. There's something refreshing about her stating that she doesn't intend to travel that well-trod path.

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