Former US Senator Richard Lugar dies at age 87

• Former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar, a foreign policy expert who helped spur the dismantling and securing of thousands of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet states, has died.
• The former Senator from Indiana was 87.

Former Republican Senator Richard Lugar waits backstage before introducing Secretary of State John Kerry for a speech on the nuclear agreement with Iran at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on September 2, 2015.

Mark Makela | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Former longtime U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a foreign policy expert who helped spur the dismantling and securing of thousands of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet states, has died. He was 87.

The Lugar Center issued a statement saying Lugar died early Sunday at the Inova Fairfax Heart and Vascular Institute in Virginia. Lugar was a Rhodes Scholar who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, after eight years as Indianapolis mayor.

He was a generally loyal conservative but lost his bid for a seventh Senate term in the 2012 GOP primary after attacks over his reputation for cooperation with Democrats and friendliness with President Barack Obama.

Lugar gained little traction with a 1996 run for president, but he focused on the threat of terrorism years ahead of the Sept. 11 attacks.