ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - Marvin Mandel, a former Maryland governor whose 26-year career in state government ended with his 1977 conviction on political corruption charges, has died. He was 95.
According to a statement from his family, Mandel passed away Sunday afternoon after spending two days with family while celebrating his son's 50th birthday.
A colorful and complex figure in Maryland politics, Mandel was seen by some as an innovator who reorganized state government to be more efficient. For others, he was forever stained by his conviction for selling the powers of office.
Legacy
He was widely acknowledged as a creative and effective governor who restructured state government and pushed big school construction and mass transit initiatives. Yet he made national headlines in a political corruption scandal that sent him to federal prison in a legal case that was later overturned.
But his accomplishments were overshadowed by his personal tribulations, which included his trial and a messy divorce when he moved out of the governor's mansion, leaving his first wife of 32 years behind so he could marry another woman.
