Simon PaulMartin

American politician, a liberal Democrat who entered the race for the presidency in May 1987. From 1951-1953 he worked counterintelligence in the military, from 1955-1963 he was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, from 1963-1969 a member of the Illinois Senate, from 1969-1973 the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, from 1975-1985 a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the U.S. Senate from 1985 on. In 1982 he sought the Illinois gubernatorial nomination unsuccessfully. In addition to politics, he formerly worked as a one-time corruption-busting small town newspaper editor. A slight man in a bow tie, he wears horn-rimmed glasses and baggy suits. Known as erudite, he has authored 22 scholarly books on subjects ranging from Abe Lincoln to world hunger. He is married to an attorney and has two kids. The former senator died at 1:00 PM on December 9, 2003 a day after heart surgery in Springfield, IL. He had recently celebrated his 75th birthday. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less