Former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson passed away at the age of 93, according to a statement from his family and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
After battling to recover from a broken hip in December, the former Republican senator, who played for Wyoming and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022, passed away early Friday.
“He was an uncommonly generous man. And I mean generous in an absolutely unconditional way. Giving of his time, giving of his energy—and he did it in politics and he did it in the family, forever,” Pete Simpson, his older brother, said in the statement.
Simpson, a moderate by today’s standards, served three terms as a senator from 1979 to 1997, during which time President Ronald Reagan revitalized the Republican Party.
Simpson was literally the tallest senator in history, standing at six feet seven, until Alabama senator Luther Strange, who is six feet nine, took office in 2017.
As a leading Senate leader at the time, Simpson was instrumental in uniting GOP senators behind the party’s legislative agenda. However, he was more well-known for having sometimes acerbic convictions about his own opinions.
Simpson was a deficit hawk who criticized those who depended on government aid and advocated for abortion rights, a moderate stance that helped him lose favor in the GOP.
He decided not to run again in 1995 because he had had enough of the Senate.
Following his career in politics, Simpson taught media and politics at the University of Wyoming and Harvard University.
“Today, our state and country mourn the passing of our dear Senator Alan Simpson,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) posted on X.
“There was no stronger advocate for the needs, industries, and interests of Wyoming. I extend my deepest thoughts and prayers to Al’s family and friends, he will be missed dearly.”
“Wyoming lost one of its most beloved and fiercest champions today,” said Senate Majority Whip Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) in a statement.
“Al Simpson is known for his devoted lifelong service and unparalleled sense of humor….While others ran from tough issues, Al embraced the opportunity to solve them. He cherished every fight to do what he thought was right. He was a mentor and a dear friend. Al’s incredible legacy will influence generations to come. My prayers are with his wife Ann, their children Bill, Colin, and Sue, and their entire family,” Barrasso added.
Norman Mineta, the secretary of transportation under President George W. Bush, and Robert Reich, the secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton, were among his Democratic allies.
Mineta and Simpson became Boy Scouts after Mineta and his family were interned as Japanese-Americans during World War II at the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, which is close to Simpson’s hometown of Cody, Wyoming.
Both raised awareness of the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans who were interned in camps during the war after leaving politics. According to Mineta, who passed away in 2022, Simpson was once asked what the main distinction was between being a Democrat and a Republican.
“Alan thought about it and he said, ‘Well, I wear size 15 shoes and he wears a size 8 and a half,’” Mineta replied, according to the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation.
Simpson was “gifted in crossing party lines and building bipartisan consensus,” Colin Simpson, one of his three children and a former Wyoming House speaker, said in the statement.
“Dad and Pete have anchored the extended Simpson family for decades with the same love, humor, compassion and dedication their parents did before them,” he said. “Dad was a mighty force and with Mom’s steady hand by his side we are so blessed and proud to have been along for the ride of a lifetime.”