Willard Wirtz, last surviving member of Kennedy cabinet, dies at 98

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Willard Wirtz, the former U.S. labor secretary who was the last surviving member of President Kennedy’s Cabinet, has died. He was 98.

Wirtz died of natural causes Saturday at his home in Washington, his son Philip said.

Wirtz led the U.S. Labor Department from September 1962 to 1969, spanning the last year of Kennedy’s presidency and the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson.

As secretary, Wirtz advocated economic policies to maximize employment, even at the risk of higher inflation. Wirtz spent the final years of his term on the outs with Johnson after he articulated his skepticism about the war in Vietnam.

We’ll have more later at latimes.com/obituaries

-- Times wire services