Up until his final days, Frank still engaged in politics. He spoke to Politico in April, when he entered hospice care in his home in Maine, where he said that one of his regrets is that he “won’t see the continued implosion of [President] Donald Trump.”
And earlier this month, Frank appeared on CNN, discussing the future of the liberal rights movement and the Democratic Party. When asked about the state of progressive lawmakers today as an icon of the movement, Frank joked: “I’ve been trying to decide whether it’s better to be an icon or an emoji.”
Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend, confirmed Frank’s death to the Associated Press. Frank is survived by his husband, Jim Ready, sisters Ann Lewis and Doris Breay, and brother David Frank.
From New Jersey to Capitol Hill
Born in Bayonne, Hudson County, N.J., on March 31, 1940, Frank had shown interest in public affairs in his teenage years and was particularly piqued by civil rights. Frank said the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, a Black 14-year-old boy from Chicago, resonated with him.
