The Connecticut Republican state auditor was found dead at his home Friday night, according to former colleagues and local reports.
Robert Kane, 54, was found after relatives requested a welfare check.
“I am sad to hear of the sudden passing of Rob Kane, State Auditor and former state senator, who has worked on behalf of Connecticut residents for more than a decade,” Governor Susan Bysiewicz tweeted Friday night. “My heart breaks for your family. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time.”
Police said family members said they had not heard from him all day. Additional details about his death were not immediately available.
COLD CASE MURDER CONNECTICUT SOLVED THROUGH DNA EVIDENCE
The main achievement of the former state senator as a legislator was the Porto Seguro for Exploited Children Act, which aims to protect minors who are victims of human trafficking and increase penalties for traffickers.
He was the father of two children, according to his biography on the state website.
“A lot of his friends, inside and outside politics, are approaching, trying to understand everything. … I will miss him very much,” former state deputy Brian Flaherty, who is also from Watertown, told the Hartford Courant newspaper. “This was a man who most of the time that you would see him recently had a smile on his face, and isn’t that what you would like to wish for someone?”
Kane was one of two state auditors in Connecticut. He had been in office since February 2017.
He served in the state Senate in early 2008. Before that, he had served on the city council.
“This is a very sad day for the city of Watertown, and for the state, to lose a real public servant,” Watertown chief of police Joshua Bernegger told the Republican American, a local newspaper.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
In the Connecticut setting, each major party has an auditor and the pair shares control of an agency that oversees the state’s public finances.
Democratic auditor John Geragosian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.