State Rep. Mike Simpson dies of heart attack at age of 47

[auntAgonist]

State Rep. Mike Simpson of Blackman Township has died.

http://www.mlive.com/news/jackson/index.ssf/2009/12/state_rep_mike_simpson_dies_of.html

Simpson suffered a heart attack Friday afternoon while coming home from the Cleveland Clinic, where he was receiving treatment for a rare blood disorder known as light-chain deposition, said Rep. Martin Griffin.

Griffin was told the news about 8 p.m. on the House floor by House Speaker Andy Dillon.

Simpson, 47, was serving his second term in the House.

The House was at ease in a rare Friday night session to take up school reform when about 8 p.m. House Speaker Andy Dillon asked the members to take their seats and stunned members with the news of Simpson’s death. “There’s much work in front of us tonight, but it is with great sadness that I have to announce that each of us has lost a colleague and a friend,” Dillon said.

“Mike Simpson was heading home from the Cleveland Clinic and on the way home had a heart attack. We’ve lost a very close friend and a guy that really cared and had passion for issues like no one that I met since I’ve been here. So it’s appropriate for us as a group to come together and take a moment of silence.”

[dmr]

1. So very sad

From the OP's link:

Simpson, who was serving his second term as the 65th District representative, was last elected in November 2008.

The former owner of Poppa's Place Restaurant in Brooklyn and the Pizza Factory in Hillsdale first ran for a major office in 2002. He campaigned hard on a populist platform that called for scaling back America's overseas commitments and reforming health care.

The health-care reform issue hit close to home. His daughter Gina died of bone cancer in 1994 at age 16. At the time, Simpson was self-employed. He had purchased insurance, but medical bills swamped the family's finances.

"Health care in general is a major issue to me," Simpson said in 2002. "No family in America should have to worry financially about a medical emergency."