Former State Sen. Tim Cullen Dies At 80

Former state Sen. Tim Cullen died earlier this week, according to family members. He was 80 years old.

Cullen, a Democrat, died Monday afternoon at Oak Park Place in Janesville after being hospitalized for a heart attack, according to Learfield, a news and agricultural news service.

Cullen was the majority leader of the state Senate from 1982 to 1987. He represented the state’s 15th Senate district from 1975 to 1987 and from 2011 to 2015. He also served as secretary of the state Department of Health and Social Services in Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson’s administration in the late 1980s.

Gov. Tony Evers released a statement on Tuesday praising Cullen.

“Former Sen. Cullen was a dedicated public servant who devoted much of his life to good governance and improving the state that raised him,” Evers said in the statement. “Sen. Cullen always fought for working families, gave back to and supported kids in the Janesville area, and advocated fiercely for nonpartisan redistricting and access to the ballot box during both his time in the Wisconsin State Senate and beyond it. He spent much of his life working to end partisan gerrymandering and fighting for Wisconsin to have fair maps at long last. There is no doubt our state is better off because of Sen. Cullen and his service. Kathy and I extend our deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, and all those who knew him.”

Cullen made headlines in 2011 when he and other Democratic lawmakers left the state Capitol and went to Illinois during the Act 10 protests. The legislators stayed out of state for weeks as part of an effort to prevent passage of the collective bargaining law spearheaded by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP majority in the state Legislature.