Alan Simpson

Alan K. Simpson, a plain-spoken former Republican senator from Wyoming who championed immigration reforms and conservative candidates for the Supreme Court while fighting running battles with women’s groups, environmentalists and the press, died on Friday March 14 2025 in Cody, Wyo. He was 93. Alan Simpson (son of Milward Lee Simpson), a Senator from Wyoming; born in Denver, Denver County, Colo., September 2, 1931; attended Cody, Wyo. public schools; graduated, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyo., 1954; graduated, University of Wyoming Law School 1958; admitted to the Wyoming bar in 1958 and commenced practice in Cody; served in the United States Army, Infantry 1954-1956; assistant attorney general of Wyoming 1958-1959; city attorney, Cody, Wyo.; United States Commissioner 1959-1969; member, Wyoming house of representatives 1964-1977; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate, November 7, 1978, for the six-year term commencing January 3, 1979; subsequently appointed by the Governor, January 1, 1979, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Clifford P. Hansen for the term ending January 3, 1979; reelected in 1984 and 1990 and served from January 1, 1979, to January 3, 1997; was not a candidate for reelection in 1996; Republican whip (1985-1995); chairman, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs (One Hundred Fourth Congress); visiting lecturer, Kennedy School of Government, Shorenstein Center, and Director of the Institute of Politics 1997-2000; commissioner, American Battle Monuments Commission 2001-; co-chairman, Continuity in Government Commission 2002-. His father was Wyoming’s governor from 1955 to 1959 and a United States senator from 1962 to 1967. Simpson’s older brother, Peter K. Simpson, became a historian, an administrator and a professor at the University of Wyoming, a state legislator from 1981 to 1984, and the state’s 1986 Republican candidate for governor. Alan graduated from Cody High School in 1949 and from the University of Wyoming at Laramie in 1954. That year, he married his college sweetheart, Ann Schroll. They had three children: William, Colin and Susan. Colin and Peter Simpson are among his survivors.