Lee Hamilton, towering figure in national politics with deep ties to IU, dies at 94

Lee Hamilton, a 17-term congressman serving southern Indiana, whose foreign policy expertise, reverence for democracy, and bipartisan ideals made him a towering and highly respected figure in national politics, died Wednesday. He was 94.

Hamilton, a Democrat, served as vice chair of the 9/11 commission and chair of the House committee investigating covert arms transactions with Iran.

He had a deep connection to Indiana University, where he graduated from law school in 1956. Hamilton's name is on Indiana University's Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He started IU's Center on Representative Government as the Center on Congress. IU is home to Hamilton's congressional papers.

In 2015, president Barack Obama awarded Hamilton the Presidental Medal of Freedom.

At the ceremony, Obama quoted Hamilton as having said, "At its best, representative democracy gives us a system where all of us have a voice in the process and a stake in the product."

Obama added, "In his 34 years in Congress, Lee Hamilton was a faithful servant of that ideal, representing his district, his beloved Indiana, and his country with integrity and honor."

Hamilton represented Indiana's 9th Congressional District from 1965 to 1999.

Hamilton was born April 30, 1931, in Daytona Beach, Fla. He grew up in Evansville and received his undergraduate degree from DePauw University, where Hamilton also played basketball.