Former U.S. Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (D-Maine), a 1939 Cornell Law School alumnus who went on to serve as a secretary of state and to run for president, died on Monday, March 25, at Georgetown University Medical Center after suffering a heart attack following surgery to open a blocked artery in his leg. He was 81.

One of his friends and one of Cornell Law School's most distinguished alumni, Sol Linowitz, L.L.B. '38, said Muskie's political career came as a big surprise. "Never in a million years would I have imagined Ed becoming a U.S. senator," recalled the Cornell trustee emeritus, a former Xerox chairman who served as President Jimmy Carter's ambassador- at-large and President Lyndon B. Johnson's ambassador and U.S. representative to the Organization of American States. "The fellow I first met [when both worked at the Cornell Law Quarterly] was a shy, diffident, quiet, insecure young man from Maine who was probably the last fellow in the law school you would have guessed would go into politics," said Linowitz, formerly senior counsel with the international law firm of Coudert Brothers in Washington and now honorary chairman of the Academy for Educational Development. "We saw each other often in Washington, reflecting on the state of the nation. I spent a lot of time with him during his run for the presidency, and I remember how disappointed he was when he learned he would not get the nomination. He was ready to win, and he felt encouraged by all the polls," Linowitz added.

Muskie, Sen. Hubert Humphrey's vice presidential running mate in 1968, was widely considered a shoo-in for the Democratic Party nomination when he himself ran for the nation's highest office in 1972. But he lost the bid (to Sen. George McGovern) following a widely publicized incident in which he bitterly (many said tearfully) denounced the editor of the Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader for a series of disparaging editorials about him and his wife, Jane.

"The New Hampshire incident was the fatal blow to his candidacy," Linowitz said. "Ed always felt that it had been misinterpreted."

Muskie, who Linowitz said many voters perceived as "this Lincolnesque, homespun, rawboned fellow," was "the consummate senator in many ways. He felt deeply about issues; he had strong compassion for those in need and for those who were in a position to benefit from government programs, in part because of his own background."

Muskie was born in Rumford, Maine, the son of an immigrant Polish tailor. After working his way through both Bates College and Cornell Law School, he returned to his home state in 1939 to set up a law practice but was soon diverted by World War II, serving in the Navy.

In 1946 he was elected to the Maine State Legislature and became governor in 1955 -- impressive feats in a state with a moribund Democratic Party. He served as governor until 1959, as U.S. senator from 1959 to 1980, and as secretary of state in 1980 and 1981 during the Iran hostage crisis. In 1981 he joined the New York-based law firm of Chadbourne & Parke, where he was a senior partner at the time of his death.

Muskie pioneered environmental protection laws, as chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Environmental Pollution, and championed a responsible federal budget as chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Later he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Former Member of Congress Distinguished Service Award. He also served on the Tower Commission, whose 1987 report was highly critical of the Reagan administration's management of the Iran-contra affair. Cornell Law School, where Muskie returned on several occasions, honored him in 1982 with its Distinguished Alumnus Award.

"Ed Muskie was a model of a truly committed public servant," Linowitz said. "He was a man of complete integrity, of selfless dedication and of deep convictions. He was also a modest man with a quiet humor. I once introduced him to an audience, and he rose and said, 'Now I know what a pancake feels like when it has syrup poured all over it.'