PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Former Pennsylvania Sen. Richard S. Schweiker, a liberal Republican who was the vice presidential candidate in Ronald Reagan’s unsuccessful 1976 campaign and later served in his Cabinet, has died. He was 89.
Schweiker, of McLean, Virginia, died Friday at Atlantic Care Regional Medical Center in Pomona, New Jersey, son Richard Schweiker Jr. said Monday.
Schweiker, a physical fitness buff who ran two miles daily at the peak of his career, headed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the first two years of the Reagan administration.
A low-key lawmaker, Schweiker was considered one of the most liberal Republicans in the Senate when Reagan shocked the GOP faithful – and Schweiker himself – by naming him to the 1976 ticket.
“My independence is my lifestyle,” Schweiker said shortly before the Republican National Convention in Kansas City, Missouri, where supporters toted signs proclaiming “I Like Schweik.”