Former Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-SC) died on Saturday, The State reports. He was 97.
“Better known as ‘Fritz’ Hollings, the South Carolina Democrat served in the state’s House of Representatives before becoming Lieutenant Governor in 1954. He was elected governor of the state in 1958. He won a special election for one of South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seats in 1966 where he served until 2003.”
Charleston Post & Courier: “In a career that spanned more than half a century, Hollings steered South Carolina through the civil rights era, established a program to feed poor pregnant women, enacted legislation to protect the environment and brought home millions of dollars as he also fought to balance the federal budget. No recent history of the state could be written without him in it.”

