MAX CLELAND

They both carved out sterling reputations as military and political leaders over years of public service.

NPR's Scott Simon marks the passing of Max Cleland, who was a U.S. Army captain and senator from Georgia.

According to his personal assistant, Cleland died at his home in Atlanta, Georgia from congestive heart failure.

Obit-Max Cleland FILE - Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland salutes delegates before introducing Sen. John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention Thursday, July 29, 2004 at the Fleet Center in Boston, Mass. Cleland, who lost three limbs to a Vietnam War hand grenade blast yet went on to serve as a U.S. senator from Georgia, died on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost his right arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968. Cleland wrote in his second memoir, “Heart of a Patriot,” that he lost his fiancee, his income, and his sense of purpose when he left the Senate. “I was totally wounded and wiped out – hopeless and overwhelmed,” Cleland wrote.

Obit-Max Cleland FILE - Former Georgia Senator Max Cleland salutes delegates before introducing Sen. John Kerry at the Democratic National Convention Thursday, July 29, 2004 at the Fleet Center in Boston, Mass. Cleland, who lost three limbs to a Vietnam War hand grenade blast yet went on to serve as a U.S. senator from Georgia, died on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021. (AP Photo/Ed Reinke, file) (Ed Reinke)ATLANTA — (AP) — Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a Vietnam War hand grenade blast yet went on to serve as a U.S. senator from Georgia, died on Tuesday. He also served as as administrator of the U.S. Veterans Administration, as Georgia Secretary of State and as a Georgia state senator. Cleland served in the Georgia Senate from 1971-1975 and was Georgia’s Secretary of State from 1983 until 1996.

Former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland has died.

Max Cleland, who lost three limbs to a hand grenade in Vietnam and later became a groundbreaking Veterans Administration chief and U.S. senator from Georgia until an attack ad questioning his patriotism derailed his reelection, died on Tuesday. Cleland died at his home in Atlanta from congestive heart failure, his personal assistant Linda Dean told The Associated Press. Cleland was a U.S. Army captain in Vietnam when he lost his right arm and two legs while picking up a fallen grenade in 1968.