Ike Skelton died from an illness complication at the Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Missouri, one week after entering the hospital with a cough Reuters reported.
The 81-year-old served as the former Congressman and senator to his home state of Missouri for 34 years before becoming the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in 2007 after being the panel's senior Democrat since 1999, according to Reuters.
"He was beloved and respected by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and as Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Ike was a devoted advocate for our men and women in uniform," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Vice President Joe Biden said in a Twitter message Skelton had "absolute, total, thorough integrity," Reuters reported.
Before losing Missouri in 2010, Skelton ran a district that was home to Fort Leonard Wood, Whiteman Air Force Base and the Missouri National Guard Training Center, leading Skelton to take his final position with the Armed Service Committee, according to Reuters.
In 2003, he voted to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, but later criticized the George W. Bush administration after a trip to Iraq in 2006 for "stretching the military too thin" and for not having a clear plan on how and when to end the war in Iraq, Reuters reported.
Skelton continued to look for strategic plans on ending the war and in May of 2007 sponsored a provision in the defense spending bill that would require U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq by April 2008. The bill passed in the House but died in the Senate, Reuters reported.
Skelton comes from a deep military family history and attended a military academy, the University of Missouri where he earned a law degree and later became a prosecuting attorney and later a Missouri state senator, according to Reuters.
Skelton had three sons with his late wife, Susie. He married Patricia Martin in 2009. One son served in the Army, another in the Navy, and the third, an entrepreneur, launched a company that made barbecue sauce, Reuters reported. He died with his wife Patty and sons at his side.
