(PatrioticPost.com)- Former Illinois Senator Adlai Stevenson III passed away on Monday at the age of ninety.
According to his son Adlai Stevenson IV, the former Democrat Senator, who suffered from dementia, passed away peacefully at his North Side home in Chicago.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in Chicago. His father was Adlai Stevenson II, a former governor of Illinois, US Ambassador to the United Nations, and two-time Democrat presidential candidate in the 1950s.
Adlai III was the great-grandson of former Vice President Adlai Stevenson — who served with President Grover Cleveland.
Stevenson served in the Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was discharged in 1954. By the time he left the Marine Reserves in 1961, Stevenson had reached the rank of Captain.
In 1957 he earned a law degree from Harvard University.
Stevenson began his career in politics as a member of the Illinois state house then served a term as state treasurer from 1967 to 1970.
After the death of Illinois Republican Senator Everett Dirksen, Stevenson was elected in 1970 to serve out the remainder of Dirksen’s term in the US Senate. He was then re-elected in 1974 to a full term. Stevenson served in the Senate for ten years, then in 1982 he made a play for Illinois governorship, but lost in a squeaker to Republican Governor Jim Thompson.
He tried again in 1986, but as a third-party candidate, and again lost to Governor Thompson.
In a statement released on Monday, Illinois’ current Governor JB Pritzker praised the late Stevenson for what he called Adlai III’s “passion for democracy,” adding that Stevenson’s ninety years are example of public service.
Senator Dick Durbin, describing Stevenson as a “friend and partner in countless causes,” praised his skill at “retail politics.”
Before his health declined, Adlai Stevenson III remained actively involved with the Adlai Stevenson Center on Democracy in Libertyville, Illinois – organizing presentations and speakers. He also continued working on his family farm in Hanover, Illinois.
Stevenson is survived by his wife of sixty-six years Nancy (née Anderson), his sons Adlai IV and Warwick, daughters Lucy and Katherine, and nine grandchildren.
