CHICAGO — Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, a popular two-term Republican credited with guiding the state into a period of greater financial stability in the 1990s, died Sunday, according to his family. He was 79.
Edgar died from complications related to his treatment for pancreatic cancer, his family said in a statement. He publicly disclosed his cancer diagnosis earlier this year.
“We are deeply grateful for the love, support and kindness so many have shown to Jim and our family over these last several months,” the statement said.
A former state legislator who was Illinois secretary of state for a decade, Edgar was elected governor in 1990. The moderate Republican easily won reelection, including winning heavily Democratic Cook County, where Chicago is located.
He remained a party statesman and adviser, and grew uneasy with the Republican Party’s shift to the right. Edgar was among high-profile Republicans who did not support Donald Trump’s presidency, joining a campaign to support Kamala Harris ′ bid for president last year called “Republicans for Harris.”
Born in small-town Oklahoma, Edgar was much more reserved than his flashy, charming predecessor, James R. Thompson, who was the longest-serving governor in state history. At the time Edgar took office, the state was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and paying its bills months late.
Amid a recession, Edgar pushed legislators to cut the state budget, making layoffs and cuts in popular programs. He also managed to fulfill his campaign promise of getting a temporary income tax surcharge made permanent, guaranteeing a stable source of money for public schools.
“It wasn’t always pretty how it was done, but we got a lot done,” Edgar told The Associated Press in 1998. “We went after some pretty tough issues. We didn’t get them all, but we got most of them.”
He surprised many political observers when he announced in 1997 that he would not seek a third term, considering his popularity. Republicans tried to draft him to run for office again, including bids for the U.S. Senate and again for Illinois governor. But he did not accept.
Edgar went on to teach and served as president emeritus of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, among other things.
“By any standard, he was a Republican whose integrity guided his time in office and who managed one of the most successful periods in Illinois state government,” Bob Kustra, who served as Edgar’s lieutenant governor, said in a statement.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday that flags in the state would fly at half-staff in Edgar’s honor.
“Now more than ever, we should channel that spirit and resolve to live as Governor Edgar did: with honesty integrity, and an enduring respect for all,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a statement. “He will live on in the incalculable number of lives he touched and in the stronger institutions he helped build.”
Edgar is survived by his wife and two children.
His relatives said details on funeral plans would follow in the coming days.
