PASSINGS: Bill Young

Rep. Bill Young, 82, Florida’s longest-serving member of Congress and a defense hawk who was influential on military spending during his 43 years in Washington, died Friday at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he had been for nearly two weeks with back problems that stemmed from a 1970 plane crash.

Young announced earlier this month that he would not seek another term in 2014. A special election will be held to finish his term.

As one of the strongest defense supporters in Congress, Young made headlines in 2012 when he said the United States should withdraw its forces from Afghanistan. Young said at the time that “we’re killing kids who don’t need to die,” reflecting the growing weariness with a conflict that had dragged on for more than a decade.

Young, who had been involved in Florida politics since 1957, was considered the elder statesman of Florida’s Republican Party and in the U.S. House of Representatives. He served 22 terms in Congress.

Charles William Young was born in Harmarville, Pa., and later moved to Indian Shores, Fla., a small Gulf Coast community in Pinellas County.

He served in the Army National Guard from 1948 to 1957, then was an aide to U.S. Rep. William Cramer from 1957 to 1960. From 1961 to 1971, he served in the Florida Senate.

He was first elected to the U.S. House in 1970. The congressman was a longtime member of the House Appropriations Committee, where he focused on military spending. He and his wife frequently visited ailing service members at hospitals in the Washington area.

Young brought hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarks to the Tampa Bay area and built up a defense contracting industry in the region.

-- Los Angeles Times wire reports

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