OBITUARIES - Jan. 19, 2009

James B. Pearson, a progressive Republican who represented Kansas in the U.S. Senate for 17 years, died Tuesday at his home in Gloucester, Mass. He was 88.

Pearson had been on kidney dialysis for several years, said Dave Seaton, his former press secretary, but the cause of death was not immediately known.

Seaton said Pearson championed causes including deregulating natural gas, expanding international trade and reducing the number of votes required to end a filibuster. He also broke with the Nixon White House and sought an early end to U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Pearson was born in Nashville on May 7, 1920, and moved with his parents to Virginia as a teenager. He interrupted his course work at Duke University to serve as a Navy pilot during World War II and was discharged as a lieutenant.

After the war, he completed his degree and later graduated from the University of Virginia law school.

He set up practice in Mission, Kan. He later served as an assistant county attorney and a probate judge before serving one term in the Kansas Senate.

In 1962, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Andrew F. Schoeppel. He was elected in a special ballot Nov. 6, 1962, and served until Dec. 23, 1978, when he chose not to seek reelection.