Dick Thornburgh, former Pa. governor and U.S. attorney general, dies at age 88

Dick Thornburgh, former governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, died Thursday at the age of 88.  

He was governor at the time of the nuclear power plant accident at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg in 1979, and was considered heroic for his handling of the incident.

As attorney general, he oversaw the litigation that resulted from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, and successfully prosecuted a number of people caught up in the savings and loan crisis.

Thornburgh resigned as attorney general in 1991 to run for the U.S. Senate following the death of Sen. John Heinz in a plane crash. He was defeated by Harris Wofford.

In 2004, he was picked by CBS News to investigate their reporting on President George W. Bush’s national guard service. The investigation resulted in Dan Rather’s removal as the anchor of the CBS Evening News.

Politico reported that Thornburgh suffered a mild stroke in 2014, and passed away at a retirement community facility near Pittsburgh, according to his son David.