Former U.S. Senator and Connecticut Governor Lowell Weicker Jr. was remembered in a funeral service Monday.
The funeral was held at St. Barnabas Church in Greenwich and was attended by various federal and state officials. Gov. Ned Lamont recently called Weicker “bigger than life.”
Lamont delivered the eulogy. Weicker’s children and grandchildren recited biblical passages honoring their grandfather.
Other politicians and former administrative staff lauded Weicker for his principled stances on protecting the most marginalized in society, from fighting for AIDS research, the Americans with Disabilities Act and others.
His former chief of staff, Stanley Twardy, said Weicker gave him important advice.
“He taught me to appreciate a good burden,” Twardy said.
Weicker died on June 28 after a brief illness. His death led to politicians across the state offering condolences and retrospectives on a person many characterized as unafraid to ruffle feathers. Weicker got his political start in 1963 as a state representative then went on to become a first selectman for Greenwich.
He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970 and quickly gained national attention for his opposition to then President Richard Nixon, a fellow Republican, in the aftermath of the Watergate break-in, which would later result in Nixon being the second sitting president to be impeached, ending in his resignation in 1974.
Weicker was 92 years old.
