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Former United States Senator Richard Lugar died, over the weekend.
Lugar, who was Indiana’s longest-running statesman, died on Sunday, at 87 years old. A former two-term mayor of Indianapolis, Lugar served as a U.S. Senator for Indiana, from 1977 to 2013.
During his 36-year career in the Senate, Lugar co-authored the Nunn-Lugar Act, in 1991, along with Georgia Democrat Sam Nunn. That act purchased and dismantled weapons of mass destruction from former Soviet states, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Lugar received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama in 2013.
Lugar’s 36-year Senate career ended in 2013, when he was defeated in the Republican primary by Tea-Party Republican and former state treasurer, Richard Mourdock. Mourdock then lost to Democrat Joe Donnelly in that November’s election.
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb has directed flags throughout the state to be lowered. Vice President and former Indiana Governor Mike Pence issued a statement yesterday that reads, “Lugar was a leader not only in the Senate but also on the world stage, where he worked tirelessly to bring pressure to end apartheid in South Africa and enforce treaties that destroyed Soviet weapons of mass destruction.”
Lugar died in Falls Church, Virginia, on Sunday. He is survived by his wife Charlene Smeltzer and their four sons.
