Walter Frederick “Fritz” Mondale, who served as vice president under then-President Jimmy Carter before waging his own unsuccessful White House bid in 1984, has died, according to a family spokesperson. He was 93.
Mondale died at home in downtown Minneapolis surrounded by family, spokesperson Kathy Tunheim said.
“It is with profound sadness that we share news that our beloved dad passed away today in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” Mondale’s family said in a statement. “As proud as we were of him leading the presidential ticket for Democrats in 1984, we know that our father’s public policy legacy is so much more than that.”
In an email to former staffers obtained by CNN on Monday, Mondale acknowledged in a moving message that his “time has come.”
“I am eager to rejoin Joan and Eleanor. Before I Go I wanted to let you know how much you mean to me. Never has a public servant had a better group of people working at their side! Together we have accomplished so much and I know you will keep up the good fight,” Mondale wrote.
“Joe in the White House certainly helps,” he added in reference to President Joe Biden. “I always knew it would be okay if I arrived some place and was greeted by one of you!”
In the final days of his life, Mondale received calls from many supporters and leaders. He was alert and able to have conversations, Tunheim said, including what a White House official described as a final call over the weekend with Biden.
Biden memorialized Mondale on Monday, calling him a “dear friend and mentor.” He said the Minnesota Democrat was one of the first people to greet him in the Senate, and was his first call when former President Barack Obama asked him to consider the vice presidency. “It was Walter Mondale who defined the vice presidency as a full partnership, and helped provide a model for my service,” Biden said in a statement.
Born to a Methodist minister and music teacher in southern Minnesota in 1928, the former Democratic vice president was a steadfast supporter of social justice. By the time he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, he was deeply involved in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party — Minnesota’s wing of the Democratic Party.
He served as the state’s attorney general starting in 1960 and later was named to the US Senate to fill the seat left vacant by Hubert Humphrey, who was elected Lyndon Johnson’s vice president. Mondale represented Minnesota in the Senate from 1964 until 1976, when he signed on as Carter’s running mate.