Agency reports portray Racan as one of the key figures in the recent Croatian past.
Reuters cites the main moments in Racan's life, pointing out that he enabled the holding of the first free multiparty elections in Croatia.
"He ditched a lifetime of communism in 1990 to usher in free elections that overthrew Yugoslav communist rule. His renamed former communist party was unpopular and sidelined as rightwing nationalists held on to power throughout the 1990s," this news agency reported.
"But Racan fought back and came to power in 2000 heading a centre-left coalition that pledged to purge the government of rampant corruption and set it firmly on the path to international respectability and European Union membership," it added.
"That, in the eyes of many local analysts, made him a pivotal figure in modern Croatian history. However, he never enjoyed grassroots support in Croatia's conservative, Roman Catholic society unlike the more nationalist leaders," Reuters reported.
The German dpa agency also mentioned Racan's role in the last Yugoslav Communist Party congress in Belgrade in 1990.
"After coming into conflict with Serbian communist leader Slobodan Milosevic over issues of reform and democratization in Yugoslavia, the Croatian delegation left the final congress of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia in 1990 under Racan's leadership," dpa wrote.
It also wrote about Racan's role in the organisation of the multi-party elections in Croatia when "his reformed communist party, now called the Social Democratic Party, lost by a small margin to the ultra-nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)."
"Ivica Racan is considered to have played a very important role in the democratization of Croatia, helping to pave the way to membership discussions with the European Union," dpa said, adding that "political analysts described him as being tempered, settled and always eager to reach a compromise".
"His opponents often criticized his unconvincing efforts to deal with the malversations of the Tudjman regime, war criminals and profiteers," the German agency says.
The French AFP says that from 2000 to 2003 in his capacity as the country's Prime Minister, Racan played a prominent role in efforts to pull Croatia out of international isolation.
Reporting about Racan's death, AP said, "He started his political climb in former communist-run Yugoslavia during the 1980s, eventually becoming the leader of the Croatian Communist party in 1989. A year later, he became a key player in the federation's demise by walking out of its annual congress to protest efforts by Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic to crack down on independence movements in ex-Yugoslav republics".
The Italian news agency ANSA described Racan as the Croatian Opposition leader and historic chief of Social Democrats in Croatia.
The Austrian APA, the Slovene STA, the Serbian Tanjug and some other foreign agencies also reported about Racan's death.