Mary Murphy, the longest-serving woman in the Minnesota Legislature, died Christmas Day after a brief illness. She was 85.

Colleagues remember Minnesota Sen. Kari Dziedzic as a rare politician who shunned the limelight and consistently found common ground across the aisle. Dziedzic died last month after a two-year battle with cancer. She was 62.

David Nething, who retired from the North Dakota Senate in 2012 as the nation's longest-serving Republican state senator, has died. He was 91.

State Rep. Mark Nakashima, a longtime Hawaii Island public servant, has died. He was 61.

Arlyne Reichert, a former state legislator and the last surviving delegate to the Montana Constitutional Convention of 1972, died May 3. She was 98.

Rep. Richard Smith, a 20-year veteran of the Georgia General Assembly and chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee, died at 78 from complications of the flu.