ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- Former U.S. Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, a courtly figure and longtime military expert whose former marriage to Elizabeth Taylor gave him a potent dash of star power, has died. He was 94.
Warner died Tuesday of heart failure at home in Alexandria, Va., with his wife and daughter at his side, his longtime Chief of Staff Susan A. Magill said Wednesday.
A centrist Republican, Warner had an independent streak that sometimes angered more conservative GOP leaders but remained popular with Virginia voters.
President Joe Biden, who served with Warner in the Senate, said Warner took "principled stances" guided by two things: "his conscience and our Constitution."
"He neither wavered in his convictions nor was concerned with the consequences," Biden said, noting that Warner wasn't afraid to buck his party on issues of "rational gun policy, women's rights and judicial nominees," and even crossed party lines to support Biden's presidential candidacy in 2020.
Warner's popularity was amplified by his marriage to a movie star, which drew large crowds when he was elected to the Senate in 1978. The "Doonesbury" comic strip lampooned him as "Sen. Elizabeth Taylor."
Warner was the sixth of Taylor's seven husbands. The two were married in 1976 and divorced in 1982. Taylor wrote later that they remained friends, but she "just couldn't bear the intense loneliness" when he became engrossed in his Senate duties.
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Warner served five Senate terms before retiring from the chamber 30 years later. He was succeeded in 2008 by Democrat Mark Warner -- no relation -- who had challenged him for the Senate in 1996. After years of rivalry, the two became good friends.
"In Virginia, we expect a lot of our elected officials," Mark Warner said Wednesday. "We expect them to lead, yet remain humble. We expect them to serve, but with dignity. We expect them to fight for what they believe in, but without making it personal. John Warner was the embodiment of all that and more. I firmly believe that we could use more role models like him today."
Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who served in Democratic and Republican administrations, said Warner's "friends and admirers came from across the political spectrum, and he set an example for all of bipartisan leadership."
Flags at the Senate side of the U.S. Capitol were flown at half-staff. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer praised Warner as a "consensus builder" and an "authority on military affairs." Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called Warner a "principled patriot across the board."
A veteran of World War II and Korea, Warner devoted most of his career to military matters. He served as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and as Navy secretary.
He was a key supporter of President George W. Bush's declaration of war in Iraq and often defended the Bush administration's handling of the war. But he also showed a willingness to buck the White House.
After a 2007 trip to Iraq, Warner called upon Bush to start bringing troops home. He summoned top Pentagon officials to hearings into the torture of detainees at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison and in the Iraq War.
In 1994, Warner angered conservatives by opposing GOP nominee Oliver North's bid to unseat Virginia Democratic Sen. Charles S. Robb. Warner declared the Iran-Contra figure unfit for public office and backed independent J. Marshall Coleman, who drew enough independent and moderate GOP votes to ensure Robb's reelection.
Steamed by what they viewed as disloyalty, GOP conservatives tried to deny him a fourth term in 1996, backing a primary challenge by former Reagan administration budget director Jim Miller. Miller portrayed Warner as an elitist. But Warner easily defeated him and then beat Mark Warner in the general election.
Born in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 18, 1927, Warner volunteered for the Navy at 17 and served as a 3rd-class electronics technician. He earned an engineering degree from Washington and Lee University, and entered law school at the University of Virginia in 1949, but volunteered for the Marines, serving in Korea before finishing his degree in 1953.
Warner clerked at the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, went into private practice and then became a federal prosecutor. He was Navy secretary from 1972-74.
Warner got an estimated $7 million in the breakup of his first marriage -- to Catherine Mellon, daughter of multimillionaire Paul Mellon. He married real estate agent Jeanne Vander Myde in 2003.
Warner had three children, Mary, Virginia and John.
Information for this article was contributed by Dena Potter, formerly of The Associated Press.
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