Pete McCloskey, the longtime South Bay Republican congressman, died Wednesday at the age of 96.
In a statement posted on its website, McCloskey's law firm Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy said he died peacefully at home in Winters.
Often described as a liberal Republican, McCloskey vehemently opposed the Vietnam War and ran on an anti-war platform to unseat President Richard Nixon in 1972.
He served in Congress from 1967 to 1983, winning reelection seven times, and representing parts of the Peninsula and Silicon Valley.
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During his congressional tenure, he championed environmental causes, co-authored the 1973 Endangered Species Act and helped launch the first Earth Day.
"Mere words cannot convey the magnitude of Pete's environmental legacy," said Lennie Roberts, a legislative advocate for the environmental group Green Foothills. "As a warrior for Planet Earth, he has given us cleaned-up water, cleaned up the air, and protections for endangered species."
McCloskey earned both an undergraduate and law degree from Stanford University and served in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1947.
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He also joined the Marine Corps after college and served as a rifle platoon leader during the Korean War, earning both the Navy Cross and Silver Star, as well as two Purple Hearts.
During his legal career, McCloskey tried more than 100 cases in front of juries, starting out first as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County and then going on to help found the firm of McCloskey, Wilson & Moshe.
Later in life, McCloskey settled down on an organic farm in Yolo County with his wife Helen and continued to be active in environmental causes, while both serving on various nonprofit boards, according to an announcement from his law firm.
Pete is survived by his wife Helen, four children -- Nancy, Peter, John, and Kathleen McCloskey -- and many grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.
