Bob Carr was a longtime U.S. congressman from Michigan who stood against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, plus advocated for transportation funding and cancer research.
- Died: August 27, 2024 (Who else died on August 27?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 81.
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Bob Carr’s legacy
Born Milton Robert Carr, Bob Carr received degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Wisconsin Law School, and Michigan State University on his way to becoming a practicing attorney in Lansing. He was Michigan’s assistant attorney general from 1970 to 1972 before setting his sights on higher office.
Carr ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1972 but lost by just a single percentage point. In 1974, he tried again and succeeded, beginning what became a long career in Congress, interrupted only by a two-year stretch from 1981 to 1983 during which James Dunn held the office. Carr served again until he ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate in 1994, defeated in the so-called “Republican Revolution.” In 1995, he left Congress and became a consultant in Washington, D.C., then an adjunct professor at the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management.
In the 1970s, Carr pushed Democrats to oppose further funding of the Vietnam War. In the early 1980s, he served on the House Committee on Appropriations and was chair of the Subcommittee on Transportation, where he put a focus on funding transportation infrastructure.
Later in life, Carr was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and esophageal cancer.
Tributes to Bob Carr
Full obituary: NPR
