Former Tucson congressman Jim Kolbe died at 80

Arizona Daily Star

Jim Kolbe, who represented Southern Arizona in Congress for 22 years, has died at the age of 80.

Kolbe, a Republican, served in the Vietnam War on the Navy Swift Boat force before becoming an Arizona state legislator and going on to Congress, starting in 1985, where he was a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

“Pima County and Southern Arizona could always count on Jim Kolbe,” Pima County Supervisors Sharon Bronson said in a statement Saturday.

“Whether he was in the state Legislature or in the Congress the man from Patagonia always acted in the best interests of Southern Arizona. Jim was old school Republican in the mold of Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower — a friend of business and the environment,” said Bronson, a Democrat.

“The preservation and conservation of beloved wild spaces and cultural treasures like Canoa Ranch and the Las Cienegas National Conservation Area are the result in large part to Jim’s leadership while in the Congress. I offer my deepest sympathies to his family ad hope they take comfort in knowing that Jim was respected and admired and that he will be missed by many.”

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