Longtime Congressman Passes Away At 82

Massachusetts politics lost a longtime player last week in Bill Delahunt, who passed away at 82 according to PBS.

The Democrat, who served until 2011, died “peacefully” after battling a long-term illness, according to a statement by his family on Saturday.

“While we mourn the loss of such a tremendous person, we also celebrate his remarkable life and his legacy of dedication, service, and inspiration,” the statement said. “We could always turn to him for wisdom, solace and a laugh, and his absence leaves a gaping hole in our family and our hearts.”

Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), who served with Delahunt in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1997 and 2011, lauded his former colleague as a liberal stalwart who served as a reliable voice on Capitol Hill for his constituents south of Boston.

“I met with Bill in Quincy in February, and he was clear and as committed as ever to working on behalf of the South Shore and the people of Massachusetts,” Markey said in a statement. “It is a fitting honor that the door of the William D. Delahunt Norfolk County Courthouse opens every day so that the people inside can do the hard work of making lives better, as Bill Delahunt did. The Commonwealth and the country are better for Bill Delahunt’s vision and service.”

WATCH:

The Quincy native retired from politics in 2011 after staying in Congress longer than planned at the behest of former Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) who said his tenure was critical to helping pass Obamacare with a Democratic supermajority. Kennedy’s death in 2010 led Delahunt to reflect on life after elected office.

“It became clear that I wanted to spend my time, the time that I have left, with my family, with my friends and with my loved ones,” Delahunt said at the time.

Despite coming around to liberal policies toward the end of his time in office, Delahunt arrived on the federal level after serving as district attorney for Norfolk County where he ran on a platform of being tough on career criminals.

“He makes it impossible for them to say Democrats are soft on crime,” then-Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) told the Boston Globe in 1997, when he served on the Judiciary Committee with Mr. Delahunt according to an obituary. “Billy has locked up more people than everyone else on the committee put together.”

Delahunt also credited his success on legislative priorities stemming from his ability to reach across the aisle for compromise.

“More than anyone I know in the business, Bill was able to go across the aisle,” former Massachusetts Attorney General Francis X. Bellotti said in a November interview with the Globe. “If we had more Bill Delahunts, we wouldn’t be having the problems we’re having today.”