Robert Carlyle Byrd, a West Virginia Democrat and the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, died Monday. He was 92. Byrd died peacefully at about 3 a.m. at Inova Hospital in Fairfax, Va, the family spokesman said. He was hospitalized since late last week. He was reportedly suffering from heat exhaustion and severe dehydration, but later other medical conditions developed.
Byrd held the post of a senator for more than 50 years. He won a record ninth term in the Senate in 2006. His more than 18,500 roll call votes were another record. He was third in the line of succession to the presidency before he died. The post of president pro tem now goes to Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii.
"It has been my greatest privilege to serve with Robert C. Byrd in the United States Senate. I looked up to him, I fought next to him, and I am deeply saddened that he is gone," fellow West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller said in a statement. "He leaves a void that simply can never be filled. But I am lifted by the knowledge of his deep and abiding faith in God, I have joy in the thought of him reunited with his dear [late wife] Erma."
Byrd's death signaled the demise of a postwar generation of "Old Bulls" who ran Congress for decades. Among them Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), John Warner (R-Va.) retired, while Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) died last year. Byrd is survived by daughters Mona Byrd Fatemi and Marjorie Byrd Moore, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
