Former Vice President Walter Mondale dies at 93
Walter Frederick “Fritz” Mondale, former vice president and senator, passed away at his Minneapolis home on April 19 at the age of 93.
In a message to his former staffers just days before his passing, he wrote: “Well, my time has come. I am eager to rejoin Joan and Eleanor. Before I go I wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. Never has a public servant had a better group of people working at their side! Together we have accomplished so much and I know you will keep up the good fight,” Mondale wrote.
Mondale was born in 1928 to a Methodist minister and a music teacher in Ceylon, Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School and was heavily involved in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
He served two years in the Army. He served as Minnesota Attorney General beginning in 1960 and later filling the vacancy on the U.S. Senate after Hubert Humphrey was elected vice president under Lyndon Johnson. Mondale served on the senate from 1964-1976 when he signed on to be Jimmy Carter’s running mate.
Carter and Mondale were defeated by Ronald Regan and George H.W. Bush in 1980. Mondale won the democratic nomination for president in 1984. He also made history by naming U.S. Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro of New York as his running mate. She was the first woman nominated for vice president by a major party. He was again defeated by Regan. . .