HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ William Ratchford, a former Connecticut congressman who later served in the Clinton administration, has died. He was 76.
Ratchford’s wife, Barbara, and fellow Democrats say the onetime attorney-turned-legislator died Sunday in Arlington, Va., of complications from Parkinson’s disease.
Ratchford was a Danbury native and had lived in Virginia for many years.
He served six terms in the Connecticut House of Representatives and was the state’s commissioner of aging before being elected to Congress in 1978.
He held the 5th District seat until Republican John Rowland defeated him in 1984.
Ratchford was also an early mentor to several now-prominent Democrats, including new Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)