New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg, the chamber’s oldest member and last World War II veteran, has died at age 89.
According to NBC News, the Democrat died from viral pneumonia, an illness that has kept him from being active during his current term in the Senate.
USA Today reports that Lautenberg also suffered from stomach cancer and other illnesses recently. He decided to retire after his current term run finished in 2015. Now, Republican Gov. Chris Christie will have to find a replacement to finish out the term.
He was first elected to the Senate in 1982 and retired in 2001. The New Jersey Democratic party convinced him to return in 2002 and he won re-election at 78.
Fox News notes that he submitted the most votes for any New Jersey senator. He was best known for his crusades for restrictions on tobacco use. In 1987, he wrote the bill to ban smoking on airplanes and later closed the Senate’s ‘smoking rooms.’ He was also an advocate for gun control and made sure he returned to Washington last month to vote on the gun control amendments.
Lautenberg was also the last World War II veteran to serve in the Senate after Hawaii Senator Daniel Akaka retired. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps from 1942 to 1946.
He is survived by his wife and their six children.