Paul Gillmor, 68; GOP congressman is found dead at his home

Ohio Rep. Paul Gillmor, a quiet, conservative Republican in his 20th year in Congress, was found dead Wednesday morning in his Arlington, Va., town house, police and House Republican leaders said. He was 68.

Police are investigating the lawmaker’s death, but police spokesman John Lisle said it appeared to be from natural causes. “It does not appear there was anything suspicious at this time,” Lisle said.

Gillmor, who had stents implanted to prevent heart attacks, had not been feeling well recently, a source familiar with the investigation told the Washington Post.

Staff members went to Gillmor’s apartment Wednesday after he failed to show up for work. He had been in Ohio last week to attend a series of town meetings and tour areas of the state that were hit hard by flooding.

“With the passing of Paul Gillmor, the people of northwest Ohio have lost a favorite son,” said House Republican Conference Chairman Adam H. Putnam (R-Fla).

Gillmor, who represented Ohio’s heavily Republican 5th District in the Bowling Green area, was first elected to Congress in 1988.

As a House member he was a little-known but solid Republican vote, a reliable conservative on social issues and a strong proponent of the military.

He led legislative efforts in such areas as the cleaning of commercially contaminated sites known as brownfields and the enacting of financial service reforms. He was also a strong advocate of a constitutional amendment to ban unfunded mandates on the states.

Paul Eugene Gillmor was born Feb. 1, 1939, in Tiffin, Ohio. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1961 and a law degree from the University of Michigan in 1964.

He served as a Vietnam War-era judge advocate in the Air Force after graduating from law school, won a seat in the Ohio state Senate in 1966, and served there for 22 years, rising to the Senate presidency.

He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1986, then was elected to the U.S. House in 1988 after eking out a 27-vote victory in the primary.

He is survived by his wife, Karen; two daughters, Linda and Julie; and three sons, Paul Michael, and twins, Connor and Adam.