Former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Romer has died at 77

NEW ORLEANS — Buddy Roemer, a Harvard-educated reform-minded politician whose one tumultuous term as Louisana’s governor was marked by bruising political battles over taxes, budgets and abortion, died Monday at age 77.

His son, Chas Roemer, said the former governor died peacefully at his home in Baton Rouge after a long battle with diabetes. He was surrounded by family, Chas Roemer said.

Roemer never held office again after he finished third in the 1991 race. He came in behind Edwin Edwards, who was making a comeback bid after losing the governorship to Roemer four years earlier, and David Duke, the ex-Ku Klux Klan leader. Edwards trounced Duke in the ensuing runoff, winning a fourth term.

Roemer, who became a banker in private life, ran unsuccessfully for governor again in 1994 and he briefly ran a campaign for the presidency in 2012, railing against special interest politics in a little-noticed effort.