Government & Politics >> Elected Officials >> Alan K. Simpson (Alan Kirk Dempster Simpson): Obituary
Alan K. Simpson, Former Senator from Wyoming, Dies at 89 – The New York Times
Alan K. Simpson, a former Republican senator who represented Wyoming for 18 years and then worked as a White House aide to President George W. Bush, died on Tuesday.
Alan Keet Simpson (1931-2025) was an American politician who served as senator from Wyoming from 1979 to 1997. Born in Cody, Wyoming, Simpson grew up on a ranch and attended the University of Wyoming and the Armed Forces Institute of Foreign Languages in Monterey, California. After a stint as a naval intelligence officer during the Korean War and later in the Navy Reserve, he started a career in law, serving as Wyoming’s attorney general and a member of the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees.
During his Senate tenure, Simpson served on committees including Agriculture, Labor and Human Resources, Rules, and the Joint Economic Committee. He was also a member of the Republican leadership in the Senate, serving as the Senate Minority Whip from 1985 to 1987 and the Senate Minority Leader from 1987 to 1994.
Following his Senate career, Simpson served as a special envoy to the Middle East under President George H.W. Bush. After leaving Washington, he became a distinguished scholar-in-residence at the University of Wyoming, and later served as a member of the Commission on National Security/Homeland Defense, which issued its final report in 2001. From 2003 to 2009, he served as the co-chairman, along with former Senator Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas and former Representative Lee Hamilton of Indiana, of the (Domenici) Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, better known as the “Gang of Six.” The commission’s plan, which included dramatic spending cuts and tax increases, failed to gain support in Congress.
Throughout their Senate careers, Simpson and his Democratic Senate counterpart from Wyoming, Sen. Mike Enzi, did not engage in the kind of interstate bloodletting that was increasingly common in Congress. In 2009 and 2010, however, they were paired- up to be adversaries, as Enzi was seeking to fill the open Senate seat left by Vice President Joe Biden. Simpson supported Enzi’s chief Democratic challenger, Gov. Dave Freudenthal, who was facing a difficult re-election campaign of his own.
Simpson continued to be active in politics following his retirement from the Senate. He announced in March 2012 that he planned to return to Washington the following month to lead a nonpartisan coalition, “Gang of Six,” an effort to break the deadlock over long-overdue tax and entitlement reform.
Simpson died at age 89. He is survived by his wife, Ann, and their four children: Sarah, Campbell, Kristi, and Keb.
Howard Mortman Contributed Research. Contributing: Matthew Futterman in Wyoming.
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