LEXINGTON, Ky.-Former U.S. Sen. Walter "Dee" Huddleston, who represented Kentucky in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 1985, died Tuesday morning in his sleep at his son's home in Warsaw, according to Brown Funeral Home in Elizabethtown. He was 92.
Huddleston, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Republican Louie B. Nunn, a former governor, to replace retiring Republican John Sherman Cooper in the U.S. Senate.
Huddleston, known as a moderate, held the seat until the 1984 election, when then-Jefferson County Judge-Executive Mitch McConnell defeated him thanks to a series of television ads using coon hounds to "hunt" for Huddleston. The ads made sport of Huddleston's attendance records in the Senate.
"I want to offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Sen. Walter 'Dee' Huddleston," McConnell said in a statement Tuesday. "As a member of the Greatest Generation, Dee proudly served Kentucky and our nation; first in the United States Army, next in Frankfort and then in the U.S. Senate. With a serious approach to the issues and a constant support for our agriculture, Dee earned the respect of his colleagues and Kentuckians throughout the Commonwealth."
A native of Burkesville, Huddleston was a member of the Kentucky Senate from 1966 to 1972 and was a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He served in the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946.
After leaving the Senate, Huddleston moved to Elizabethtown and was chairman of First Financial Service Corporation.