Dead Celebrity Alert

Chic Hecht, a Republican known as much for his verbal miscues as his upset victory in a U.S. Senate race over two decades ago, died of cancer Monday in a Las Vegas hospital. He was 77.

Hecht’s death was confirmed by longtime family friend Francine Pulliam. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer a year ago, she said.

The conservative Hecht was praised by former U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt, R-Nev., as “one of the gutsiest politicians I’ve ever encountered.”

Laxalt recalled thinking that Hecht was “half-crazy” when the one-time Las Vegas clothing store owner ran for a state Senate seat in a heavily Democratic district in 1966. … Read full obituary

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