SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, the two-term Republican credited with stabilizing the state’s finances in the 1990s, has died at 79.
His family said he died from complications related to pancreatic cancer treatment and expressed gratitude for the support shown “over these last several months.”
Edgar, Illinois’ 38th governor, served from 1991 to 1999 after a decade as secretary of state. A Charleston native and Eastern Illinois University graduate, he began his political career in the state House.
Taking office during a budget crisis and recession, Edgar made permanent a temporary income-tax surcharge and pushed through spending cuts that supporters said brought Illinois’ finances into balance. “It wasn’t always pretty … but we got a lot done,” he told the AP in 1998.
Seen as a pragmatic moderate, Edgar surprised many by not seeking a third term despite high approval ratings. He later declined bids to return to office, instead teaching and serving as president emeritus of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation. In recent years, he voiced discomfort with the GOP’s rightward shift and backed Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign.
Edgar is survived by his wife and two children. Funeral arrangements are pending.
