11:30 a.m. update:
INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Eric J. Holcomb is directing flags across the state to be flown at half-staff to honor former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh.
Flags should be flown at half-staff from now until sunset on the day of his funeral, which has not yet been announced.
Holcomb also asks businesses and residents to lower their flags to half-staff as well to honor Bayh.
ORIGINAL STORY
Former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, a legend in Indiana politics who authored two amendments to the U.S. Constitution, has died at age 91.
He died Thursday morning of pneumonia, according to a statement from his family.
Bayh served in the Indiana Legislature from 1954 to 1962 and the U.S. Senate from 1962 to 1981.
The Terre Haute native is known as the only non-founding father to author two amendments to the Constitution: the 25th Amendment, which dealt with presidential and vice presidential succession; and the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18.
He also wrote Title IX to the Higher Education Act, landmark legislation that prohibits discrimination based on gender.
Bayh also co-wrote the Bayh-Dole Act, which decentralized management of federally-funded inventions out of Washington, D.C., and into the hands of universities and small companies.
Bayh’s son, Evan Bayh, served as Indiana Gov. from 1989 to 1997 and as U.S. senator from 1999 to 2011.
“He had a natural sympathy for the underdog and the downtrodden,” Evan Bayh said in a written statement. “So that’s why he always tried to champion opportunity and decency for people who are born without a lot of either. My father was an extrovert who was devoted to his fellow citizens and trying to make their lives better–and he succeeded. And I can’t imagine a better legacy.”
