(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



Minnesota Iron Range Sen. David Tomassoni dies at 69 [1]

['Michelle Griffith', 'More From Author', '- August']

Date: 2022-08 

Minnesota Sen. David Tomassoni, 69, died on Thursday evening after announcing last year he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.

Tomassoni was first elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 1992 and the Senate in 2000 as a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, but after the 2020 election caucused as an independent with Republicans and served as president pro tem of the upper chamber.

He had been in hospice care at a facility in Duluth. ALS, often called Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a fatal neurological disease that progressively degenerates the spinal cord and brain. There is currently no cure for ALS.

In March, Tomassoni helped spearhead a bill that allocated $20 million towards ALS research and another $5 million for ALS caregiving.

“The legacy he leaves is enormous, and his passion for public service benefited countless lives,” said Sen. Tom Bakk, a fellow Iron Range senator, in a statement. “His selflessness in advocating for ALS research could not save his life but may save the lives of millions who follow in his footsteps.”

Tomassoni was chair of the Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee and a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Finance Committee and Mining and Forestry Policy Committee.

Tomassoni, who played professional hockey in Italy as a young man, was known as a stalwart defender of the Iron Range and its major industries of mining, logging and tourism.

He is survived by his wife Charlotte, three children and six grandchildren.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://minnesotareformer.com/briefs/minnesota-iron-range-sen-david-tomassoni-dies-at-69/

Published and (C) by Minnesota Reformer
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons License CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/MnReformer/