He later became a University of Iowa chair in public affairs and a visiting professor in the College of Law and Department of Political Science. In 2016, he was named interim director of the UI Museum of Art.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. Jim Leach, who served 30 years as a politician from eastern Iowa and later headed the National Endowment for the Humanities, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Leach, a Republican, won election to the U.S. House in 1976 and went on to represent parts of eastern Iowa in Congress for 30 years.

Former Iowa congressman Jim Leach, who represented Iowa in Congress for 30 years, has died at the age of 82, reports say. Leach was born in Davenport. He was first elected to Congress as a moderate Republican in 1977.