NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – John S. Wilder, a wily, eccentric and towering figure in Tennessee politics as lieutenant governor/Senate speaker for 36 years, died early Friday at a Memphis hospital. He was 88.
Wilder’s son, Shelton Wilder, confirmed that his father died at 12:10 a.m. at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis. John Wilder was hospitalized earlier this week following a stroke.
“He was at peace,” Shelton Wilder said Friday.
When John Wilder’s 36-year tenure as Senate speaker ended in 2007, he was the longest serving presiding officer of a legislative chamber in modern U.S. history, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
His friends and colleagues called that a unique feat.