Richard Tafoya
Feb 13th, 2007, 02:03 PM
Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/13/AR2007021300755.html?sub=AR
Rep. Charles Norwood, Jr., a Georgian who rode the Republican tidal wave in 1994 that gave the GOP control of the House, died Tuesday after battling cancer and lung disease.
The 65-year-old Norwood, who also was a dentist, died at his home in Augusta, Ga., his office said. House members debating the war in Iraq briefly interrupted proceedings to pause for a moment of silence in his honor.
Norwood suffered from a chronic lung disease and later developed metastatic cancer that spread from his lung to his liver. He had declined further treatment last week and returned home to Georgia to receive hospice care.
"Charlie was a great member of this body and a friend to all," Rep. Nathan Deal, a fellow Georgia Republican, said on the House floor.
The vacancy created by Norwood's death won't be filled immediately. In Georgia, the governor submits an official request for a special election to the secretary of state. The request must be made within 10 days of the seat being vacated, with the election to be held no fewer than 30 days later.
A feisty, tobacco-chewing conservative who loved to hunt and who railed against government bureaucracy, Norwood came out of nowhere to beat Democratic incumbent Don Johnson in 1994. He became the first Republican to represent that northeastern Georgia district since shortly after the Civil War.
Friends say Norwood had hoped to follow that by becoming Georgia's first Republican governor in the modern era. He also considered a Senate bid, but deferred running for statewide office after he was diagnosed with the life-threatening lung disease in 1998.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/13/AR2007021300755.html?sub=AR
Rep. Charles Norwood, Jr., a Georgian who rode the Republican tidal wave in 1994 that gave the GOP control of the House, died Tuesday after battling cancer and lung disease.
The 65-year-old Norwood, who also was a dentist, died at his home in Augusta, Ga., his office said. House members debating the war in Iraq briefly interrupted proceedings to pause for a moment of silence in his honor.
Norwood suffered from a chronic lung disease and later developed metastatic cancer that spread from his lung to his liver. He had declined further treatment last week and returned home to Georgia to receive hospice care.
"Charlie was a great member of this body and a friend to all," Rep. Nathan Deal, a fellow Georgia Republican, said on the House floor.
The vacancy created by Norwood's death won't be filled immediately. In Georgia, the governor submits an official request for a special election to the secretary of state. The request must be made within 10 days of the seat being vacated, with the election to be held no fewer than 30 days later.
A feisty, tobacco-chewing conservative who loved to hunt and who railed against government bureaucracy, Norwood came out of nowhere to beat Democratic incumbent Don Johnson in 1994. He became the first Republican to represent that northeastern Georgia district since shortly after the Civil War.
Friends say Norwood had hoped to follow that by becoming Georgia's first Republican governor in the modern era. He also considered a Senate bid, but deferred running for statewide office after he was diagnosed with the life-threatening lung disease in 1998.