As a legislator for four decades, he led voter registration drives and challenges to redistricting that rattled the political establishment.
Author: Sam Roberts
Kenneth Dam, Deputy in Reagan and George W. Bush Cabinets, Dies at 89
He served under George Shultz at the State Department as the Soviet Union began crumbling and later, at Treasury, led a crackdown on funding for terrorism after 9/11.
Ken Bode, Erudite ‘Washington Week’ Host on PBS, Dies at 83
Beginning in 1994, he brought to the moderator’s role credentials as a political activist, an academic and a national correspondent for NBC News.
Ricardo Alarcon, Diplomat and Castro Confidant, Dies at 84
As Havana’s go-between with the U.S., he negotiated Elián González’s return to Cuba. He was also the country’s U.N. representative on two occasions.
Trude Feldman, White House Reporter Who Got Access, Dies at 97
She was known to lob softballs in interviews, but she was tireless in getting face time with officials, including every president from Lyndon Johnson to George W. Bush.
Maj. Ian Fishback, Who Exposed Abuse of Detainees, Dies at 42
His letter to two senators about beatings by U.S. troops in Iraq led to legislation in 2005 prohibiting extreme mistreatment of military prisoners.
Rev. W. Sterling Cary, Pioneering Black Churchman, Dies at 94
He embraced what became known as Black liberation theology and, in 1972, became the first Black leader of the National Council of Churches.
Sherwood Boehlert, a G.O.P Moderate in the House, Dies at 84
A champion of environmentalism who chided climate change, he was among the last of the relatively progressive Rockefeller Republicans.
Ida Nudel, ‘Angel’ to Soviet Jews Seeking to Flee, Dies at 90
During the Cold War, she fought for the rights of others and also waged a 16-year fight of her own for an exit visa to Israel. She finally won in 1987.