The husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, investor Richard Blum, has died.
Feinstein announced her husband’s death after a long battle with cancer.
Blum was 86, KRON reported.
She said: “My heart is broken today. My husband was my partner and best friend for more than 40 years. He was by my side for the good times and for the challenges. I’m going to miss him terribly,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein mourns the death of her husband, investor Richard Blum. Forty years of friendship and love. pic.twitter.com/SI13gZKu9D
— Natalie Andrews (@nataliewsj) February 28, 2022
Blum was the chairman and president of Blum Capital Partners based in San Francisco, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. He founded the firm in 1975.
The newspaper reported that he was a friend of the Dalai Lama, served as an honorary consul of Nepal, according to KRON, and debated Chinese leaders over human rights in Tibet. He was also a friend of Sir Edmund Hillary and spoke to the explorer at a base camp on Mount Everest before his own trek, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Blum founded the American Himalayan Foundation, focusing on ending human trafficking and providing health care to the people in the Himalayas, KRON reported.
Blum was also an economic presidential advisor for the Obama, Clinton and Carter administrations, but he was proudest of his wife, who was the first woman to chair the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the Chronicle reported.
“He never tires of telling people that, when they married, he decided to keep his maiden name,” University of California President Mark Yudof told the newspaper.
The couple married in 1980 while Feinstein was the mayor of San Francisco, KRON reported.
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