COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) - Former Republican Missouri state lawmaker Ed Robb is died at the age of 69.
Family spokesman Yancy Williams says Robb collapsed and died Saturday while leaving a birthday party in downtown Columbia. Williams says Robb had a pacemaker put in late last year but had been feeling fine since then.
Robb became the Boone County presiding commissioner in November - two years after failing to win reelection to the Missouri House of Representatives. He also was president of a consulting firm and was a former economics professor at the University of Missouri.
Williams described Robb as a "good friend" and said he had the ability to "explain complicated things in a simple way."
Robb is survived by his wife, Rosa, of Columbia, and their five children.
Funeral arrangements are pending.