Mike Gravel

Former U.S. senator Mike Gravel, an Alaska Democrat with a flair for the theatrical who rose from obscurity to brief renown by reading passages of the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record in an effort to end the Vietnam War and who ran quixotic campaigns for the presidency in 2008 and 2019, died June 26 2021 at his home in Seaside, Calif. He was 91. The cause was multiple myeloma, said his daughter, Lynne Mosier. After graduating from college, Gravel set out for Alaska in 1956 — three years before it became a state. Mr. Gravel was prospering in real estate development and won election to the state House of Representatives, rising to the position of speaker in 1965. He was elected to the US Senate in 1968. He was unseated in the 1980 primary, amid the GOP landslide that ushered Ronald Reagan into the presidency. He got divorced from his first wife and failed in a real estate venture. Moving to California, he tried with little success to stir interest in national ballot initiatives conceived in the spirit of greater direct democracy. Maurice Michael Gravel was born in Springfield, Mass., on May 13, 1930. After Army service in Germany during the Korean War, he received an economics degree from Columbia University in 1956. Mr. Gravel’s marriage to Rita Martin ended in divorce. In 1984, he married Whitney Stewart. In addition to his wife, of Seaside, survivors include two children from his first marriage, Martin Gravel of Parker, Colo., and Lynne Mosier in Austin; two sisters; four grandchildren; and a great-grandson. GRAVEL, Maurice Robert (Mike), a Senator from Alaska; born in Springfield, Hampden County, Mass., May 13, 1930; attended private schools; graduated, Columbia University 1956; member of the United States Army, Counter Intelligence Corps 1951-1954; member, Alaska house of representatives 1962-1966, elected speaker in 1965; author; engaged in real estate development in Anchorage and Kenai; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1968; reelected in 1974, and served from January 3, 1969, to January 3, 1981; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1980.