Former House Speaker of the United States, Tom Foley died at the age of 84 of complication from a stroke, House Democratic and Republican offices said Friday. According to US media report, Foley's wife, Heather said that he died at his home in the nation's capital. A statement from the Foley family said Foley died of complications from strokes.
Heather said Foley had suffered the stroke last December and was hospitalised in May with pneumonia. She said Foley had been on hospice care there ever since. Foley also served as US ambassador to Japan for four years in the Clinton administration. He served 30 years in the US House, including more than five years as speaker.
He was elected to the House in 1964 from Washington's Fifth Congressional District. Over the course of 15 terms, he rose to become chairman of the Agriculture Committee, Majority Whip, Majority Leader, and on June 6, 1989, the 57th Speaker of the House. Foley was a Washington state lawmaker who was first elected to the House in 1964 and became the first speaker since the Civil War who failed to win re-election in his home district. He also served as House majority leader in 1989 when then Speaker Jim Wright, D-Texas, stepped down amid an ethics scandal and Foley was subsequently elected House Speaker. The courtly politician lost his seat in the "Republican Revolution" of 1994.
Republicans kept Foley's old seat, even in 2006 when the national tide swung back and Democrats retook a majority in the House, and in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected president. As a party "super delegate," Foley remained uncommitted during Obama's presidential primary battle with Hillary Clinton but eventually endorsed Obama in June 2008.
The current speaker, John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement issued here on Friday, "Today the House mourns the loss of our beloved former colleague ... Forthright and warm-hearted, Tom Foley endeared himself not only to the wheat farmers back home but also colleagues on both sides of the aisle. That had a lot to do with his solid sense of fairness, which remains a model for any Speaker or representative. "With his passing, the House loses one of its most devoted servants and the country loses a great statesman."
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