North Vegas Times

Former Nevada state Sen. and Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid recently passed away at age 82. 

The senator died in the company of his family Dec. 28, following a four-year battle with pancreatic cancer, according to CNN. 

"To say @SenatorReid was a giant doesn’t fully encapsulate all that he accomplished on behalf of the state of Nevada and for Nevada families; there will never be another leader quite like Senator Reid," Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak wrote in a Dec. 28 Twitter post.

Reid was born in 1939 to humble beginnings, first living in a home without even running water. To earn a living, his mother did laundry for local brothels and his father was a rock miner. Reid attended high school in Henderson, Nevada, and Utah State University before going to law school at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

After finishing law school, Reid returned to Nevada. He won the election for a new Las Vegas congressional district in 1982, was reelected in 1984 and then, in 1986, he won the election for an open seat in Nevada's Senate.

Reid rose through the ranks to become the state's Democratic majority leader before retiring in 2017. He received a lifetime achievement award from the Nevada Democratic Party in 2019 and the Clark County Board of Commissioners voted earlier this year to rename the McCarran International Airport to Harry Reid International Airport.