RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Former state Insurance Commissioner Jim Long died Monday, hospitals officials said, a month after ending his 24-year-run as the industry's top regulator and less than two weeks after suffering a stroke before a legislative meeting. He was 68.
Long died at 2:52 p.m. at Rex Hospital in Raleigh, hospital spokeswoman Melody Hunter-Pillion said. His family said he had suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, which occurs when blood escapes from the arteries and floods into the brain, on Jan. 21.
"It is with heavy hearts that our family witnessed Jim's passing today," Long's wife, Peg O'Connell, said in the hospital's statement. "Jim loved this great state and its gracious people. He was honored to serve them."
Long, who liked to call himself the "oldest rat in the Democratic barn," served six terms as insurance commissioner. He was the longest-serving member of the Council of State, a powerful panel of 10 statewide elected officials.
Like his father and grandfather before him, Long had represented Alamance County in the General Assembly -- in the 1970s -- and wore his trademark red tie as a tribute to his father, George.
Long also served as the general counsel to then-House Speaker Liston Ramsey in the early 1980s before being elected insurance commissioner in 1984. During his tenure, he was the public face in disputes between the state and the industry over automobile insurance rates.
Long decided not to run for re-election last year and endorsed chief deputy Wayne Goodwin, who ended up winning the general election.
"He was a mentor and friend to all of us, and we will miss him more than words can express," Goodwin said in a prepared statement. "As our family grieves, we will try to find comfort knowing that through our work we can honor Commissioner Long's legacy of serving the people of our state that he so loved."
Long collapsed in the Legislative Office Building before attending the final meeting of a legislative committee studying how to be better prepared to pay claims resulting from a big hurricane.
In addition to his wife, Long is survived by two children and several grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
