Former GOP senator and Ohio governor George Voinovich dies

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Former Republican U.S. senator George Voinovich, a two-term Ohio governor who preached frugality in his personal and public life and occasionally bucked the GOP establishment, died Sunday. He was 79.

Voinovich, considered a moderate who opposed the size of former president George W. Bush's tax cuts and later questioned Bush's war strategy in Iraq, died peacefully in his sleep, his wife, Janet, confirmed.

His death came as a surprise to friends, who said he seemed strong despite some recent health struggles.

He had delivered public remarks Friday at a 25th Slovenian Independence Day event at Cleveland City Hall. He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention coming to Cleveland next month.

Bush's father, former president George H.W. Bush, said Sunday that Voinovich was one of his closest political allies and a "quintessential public servant" who "brought people together, focused on results and left his state and our country a better place."

During his 12 years in the Senate, Voinovich occasionally found himself at odds with Republican conservatives. He was an early supporter of a proposed federal bailout for the auto industry, which employs thousands of people in Ohio, and he was the rare Republican during the Bush administration to suggest raising taxes to pay for the war in Iraq and hurricane relief.

Voinovich announced in early 2009 he would not run for a third Senate term. He said he wanted to retire to spend more time with his family.

Cuyahoga County executive Armond Budish said Voinovich had continued in recent years to advocate projects that made life better for people in northeast Ohio.

His integrity and toughness were common themes in condolences that poured in from Republicans and Democrats at the local, state and federal levels.

Cincinnati Republican Rob Portman, who succeeded Voinovich in the Senate, said he "exemplified everything good about public service."

Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, praised him for being "willing to listen to the other side of an argument."

Republican Gov. John Kasich called Voinovich "a unifier who thought outside the box, never gave up and worked hard for the ideas he believed in up until the very end of his life." State Democratic chairman David Pepper called him simply "an Ohio giant."

As he left the Senate, Voinovich counted among his accomplishments the passage of a global anti-Semitism bill, an effort to expand NATO and a bill to protect intellectual property.

He also touted what he called a "nuclear renaissance," pushing to make it easier for nuclear power plants to get new licenses and financing and to improve the oversight of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Voinovich cultivated an image as a debt hawk and opposed President Barack Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package, saying too much of the spending wasn't stimulative.