Overview

• His family said he died Sunday from complications related to treatment for pancreatic cancer, with funeral details to be announced.
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker ordered flags across Illinois to half-staff and called Edgar a model public servant who reached across the aisle.
• Edgar served as the state’s 38th governor from 1991 to 1999 and remains the last Republican to win more than one gubernatorial term in Illinois.
• He navigated a recession by cutting spending and making a temporary income-tax surcharge permanent to secure school funding, and later prioritized education reforms.
• As secretary of state he led a drunk-driving crackdown and required car insurance; this year he disclosed metastatic cancer and was honored with a State Library reading room bearing his name.