PASSINGS: David F. Cargo

David F. Cargo, 84, a maverick Republican who was 37 in 1966 when he became New Mexico’s youngest governor, died Friday at an Albuquerque hospital. He had a stroke about two years ago and fell ill after an active Fourth of July, said Patrick Cargo, one of his five children.

The elder Cargo championed the film industry as economic development and established the first state film commission. He also was an early advocate of a policy for apportioning legislative seats according to population that has since altered New Mexico’s political landscape.

He earned the nickname “Lonesome Dave” during his first bid for governor when he had little support from the GOP and traveled alone in a 1959 Chevrolet to campaign in less-populated areas typically bypassed by his better-funded Democratic opponent, a state Senate leader.

“People started seeing me as a guy who was battling business-as-usual and the special interests all by himself,” Cargo wrote in a 2010 autobiography.

Elected to the Legislature in 1962, he served three terms before being elected governor. He was reelected to another two-year term in 1968.

He advocated for tougher ethics laws regarding conflicts of interest by government officials, proposed registering lobbyists and pushed for greater pollution controls. Those goals were eventually accomplished with the help of later governors.

David Francis Cargo was born Jan. 13, 1929, in Dowagiac, Mich. He received a bachelor’s degree in 1951 and a master’s in 1953, both from the University of Michigan. He served in the Army in Germany during the Korean War, earned a law degree from U of M in 1957 and moved to New Mexico to practice law.

Times staff and wire reports