John Dingell, Staunchest Defender of the Auto Industry, Dies at 92

John Dingell Jr., the longest-serving member of Congress ever, died on Thursday at age 92, reportedly after succumbing to cancer.

A Democratic member of the House of Representatives, Dingell hailed from Dearborn, Mich., the home of Ford Motor Co. He was first voted into office in December 1955 and retired in January 2015. His wife Debbie Dingell, holds his former seat.

During his 59-year career, Dingell twice chaired the influential House Energy and Commerce Committee, where he exercised considerable power over the auto industry’s fuel economy and emission control regulations. He also championed American jobs, civil rights and national healthcare.

An unwavering defender of the auto industry and its workers, Dingell frequently clashed with environmentalists but also ended up backing such measures as compulsory corporate average fuel economy standards and tougher emission rules. He was widely regarded as a master of consensus-building.

Dingell chafed at being described as a knee-jerk proponent of big business. He told Politico in 2014 that his goal was to make laws industry could tolerate. “I would tell the industry folks, ‘You’ve got to go along,’” he explained. “’I will get you a bill that you will hate, but it will be a bill that you can live with.’”