Sen. Arlen Specter, who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate for 30 years, died of cancer Sunday at age 82.
Northampton County Councilwoman Peg Ferraro still remembers what Sen. Arlen Specter once told her about political centrists.
"He said, 'Moderates used to be able to meet in a ballroom; now we have to meet in a telephone booth,'" Ferraro recalled.
Specter, who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate for 30 years, died today of cancer at age 82. Ferraro met him in 1980 when he was elected to his first term.
"It's just a shock," Ferraro said.
Specter's votes on social issues sometimes irked conservative GOP colleagues, but he nonetheless commanded respect within the party, Ferraro said.
"It's true, his votes frustrated us at times," she said. "The fact of the matter is, though, he had a brilliant mind and was devoted to the betterment of the country,"
Specter's work as chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee will likely top his legacy, said G. Terry Madonna, a political analyst at Franklin & Marshall College.
Madonna reminisced about his interview with Specter on the program "Pennsylvania Newsmakers" following the senator's interrogation of Anita Hill during Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's confirmation hearing.
"Few people have had the kind of impact Specter did on the confirmation procedure for Supreme Court justices," he said.
However, Madonna said, Specter has received less recognition for what he called "tireless work" to bring home money for economic development to Pennsylvania.
"In 40 years, I've never seen someone work harder and longer for his constituents than (Specter)," Madonna said. "He prided himself on visiting all 67 counties."
Ferraro said she always had positive interaction with Specter's office in her role as a county councilwoman.
"Anytime I needed anything with constituent services, I could go to his office staff," she said. "You could always get help in his office, and you knew things would get done."
Specter was a man who adjusted to political terrain that constantly "shifted underneath him," Madonna said.
"He was a very unique personality -- he was pointed, and acerbic, and didn't suffer fools very well," he said. "He pleaded for moderation."
U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Lehigh Valley, said Specter had a "front-row seat" in Congress and was actively engaged in many issues, including the Warren Commission and scientific research.
"A tough, fierce competitor, Arlen Specter courageously and tenaciously battled cancer as passionately as he advocated for the causes in which he believed," Dent said in a statement.