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  Former U.S. Sen. Charles Percy dies
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Last EditedImperator  Sep 17, 2011 11:30am
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CategoryObituary
AuthorRick Pearson
MediaNewspaper - Chicago Tribune
News DateSaturday, September 17, 2011 05:00:00 PM UTC0:0
DescriptionCharles H. Percy, a brilliant businessman who represented Illinois for nearly 20 years in the U.S. Senate, once headed the chamber’s powerful Foreign Relations Committee, and harbored unrealized ambitions to run for the presidency, died early Saturday. He was 91.

Percy died at 2:30 a.m. Eastern time at a Washington D.C. hospice, according to Kate Kelly, a spokeswoman with WETA, the public broadcasting station in Washington D.C., where Percy's daughter, Sharon Rockefeller is president and CEO.

Percy, a moderate Republican, entered the Senate in 1966 after defeating one liberal icon, the late Paul Douglas. But he was ousted by the state’s voters when they elected another Democratic icon, the late Paul Simon, in 1984.

Percy was an ardent opponent of the Vietnam War, a supporter of international nuclear non-proliferation, a backer of federal consumer protection efforts and tougher enforcement of laws against drug abuse. He also was the first senator to call for a special prosecutor to investigate Watergate, the political dirty tricks scandal that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency.

In March 2009, Percy’s daughter, Sharon, the wife of Sen. John D. Rockefeller, D-W.Va., disclosed publicly that the former senator had Alzheimer’s disease. Speaking to the National Alzheimer’s Association, she described him at that time as "still the same sweet, deeply religious man he always was, with a core presence that’s as magnetic as ever."

Percy, a Christian Scientist who neither drank alcohol nor smoked, was an avid health advocate. No day on the campaign trail began without Percy swimming laps in a hotel pool.

Percy became chief executive of Bell & Howell Corp., then a manufacturer of projectors, cameras and other motion-picture equipment, in 1949 at the age of 29, becoming the youngest person to head a major corporation at that time. He resigned in 1963 to make his first bid for major elective office, an unsuccessful run for governor against the
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