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Former Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey dies

The Democrat and former U.S. ambassador to Mexico was 96

By Matt Bradwell
While on a flight from Washington Dc to Boston on November 6, 1979, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (R) discusses campaign strategy with (L-R) U. S. Senator John Durkin (D-New Hampshire), Pat Lucey, assistant campaign director and Steve Smith, Kennedy’s brother-in-law and campaign director. (UPI Photo/Larry Rubenstein/Files)
While on a flight from Washington Dc to Boston on November 6, 1979, U.S. Senator Edward M. Kennedy (R) discusses campaign strategy with (L-R) U. S. Senator John Durkin (D-New Hampshire), Pat Lucey, assistant campaign director and Steve Smith, Kennedy’s brother-in-law and campaign director. (UPI Photo/Larry Rubenstein/Files) | License Photo

MILWAUKEE, May 11 (UPI) -- Lifelong advocate of the middle class, former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico and former Governor of Wisconsin Patrick Lucey has died. The 96-year-old passed away Saturday night in the Milwaukee Catholic Home, where he had been living for several years.

Lucey was first elected to governor in 1970. He served in Madison until halfway through a second term when he was selected by then-President Jimmy Carter to serve as ambassador to Mexico. Two years later, as John Anderson's vice presidential candidate on an independent ticket, Lucey tried to unseat Carter and prevent the Reagan Era in the 1980 presidential election.

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"He's going to be remembered as one of Wisconsin's most influential citizens," said Wisconsin State Senator Fred Risser who served in the legislature under Lucey. "He turned Wisconsin into a two-party state."

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