30-Year House GOP Whip Leslie Arends Dies at Age 89
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NAPLES, Fla. — Leslie Arends, who represented east-central Illinois in Congress for 40 years and served as House Republican whip for 30 years, died Tuesday. He was 89.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
Arends was first elected to Congress in 1934. He was House Republican whip from 1943 until he retired. He also was a member of the Republican Policy Committee and was, for a time, the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. Arends did not seek reelection in 1974.
He was born on Sept. 27, 1895, in Melvin, Ill., about 100 miles south of Chicago. He was educated as a lawyer at Oberlin College in Ohio and at Illinois Wesleyan University. He served in the Navy during World War I.
He is survived by his wife, Betty, and a daughter, Letty.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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