SHEFFIELD, Ala., March 29 (UPI) -- Former U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin of Alabama died Tuesday at Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield, Ala., from a reportedly undetermined cause at age 83.
Heflin had been battling a series of ailments during recent years, but he was taken to the hospital Tuesday morning because of a blockage in his colon, family members said.
His vital signs began to fade early and doctors were unable to stabilize him, the Florence (Ala.) Times Daily reported.
Heflin became Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 1970 and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1978, being re-elected in 1984 and 1990.
He left public office in January 1997 and maintained an office in his son's law firm in Tuscumbia, Ala.
He was a 1948 graduate of the University of Alabama Law School.
