The office and family of former New Jersey Senator Frank Lautenberg announced that he died in the early morning hours on Monday at a New York hospital.
"United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the last remaining World War II veteran serving in the Senate, passed away due to complications from viral pneumonia at 4:02 a.m. today at New York-Presbyterian. Hospital/Weill Cornell," his office said in a statement.
Lautenberg was a multimillionaire businessman who began his career in 1982.
With a career that spanned more than two decades, Lautenberg pioneered some of the most historical legislation with such pieces as: passing the law that banned smoking on airplanes, writing drunk driving laws that set the national legal drinking age at 21 and making .08 blood alcohol level the national standard, sanctioning the "Toxic Right to Know" warranting the public to know what pollutants were affecting their neighborhoods, and co-writing the 21st century GI Bill.
Along with his achievements, Lautenberg faced some controversy when he was nominated to run for Senate in September of 2002.
Because of his age and the last minute bump Lautenberg received from party affiliates only weeks before the election, Republicans "went to court to prevent what they called the Democratic Party's ballot "switcheroo,'" and attacked Lautenberg's run accusing him of being a "political relic ill-suited for dangerous times."
Earlier this year Lautenberg announced he would not run for a sixth term and set out an agenda for his remaining years in office, making significant progress in adjusting chemical safety law, reforming gun laws, and pushing for greater federal resources for New Jersey following the devastating damage of Hurricane Sandy.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will now appoint a successor as he assumes the role until the state finds a replacement.
Lautenberg was 89.
Watch the video that Lautenberg participated in for the "It Gets Better" project:
