U.S. Senator Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), who represented Mississippi in Congress for more than 45 years, died early Thursday morning in Oxford. Services are pending.

Cochran, a Navy veteran who eventually served as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee, resigned from the Senate in April 2018 due to health concerns.

Cochran was born Dec.7, 1937, in Pontotoc.