By ERIK SCHELZIG
Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Harlan Mathews, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Al Gore after he was elected vice president in 1992, died Friday. He was 87.
A family spokesman said Mathews died at a hospice in Nashville with his wife, Pat, by his side. He had recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor.
Mathews joined Tennessee government in 1950 as a member of the state budget staff and quickly became a top aide to Govs. Frank Clement and Buford Ellington. The Legislature elected Mathews as state treasurer in 1974, a position he held until resigning to run Democrat Ned McWherter’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 1986.