Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio, the state’s longest-serving legislator, died April 21 of cancer and related illness. He was 76.

Norman Major, who served 26 years in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, died April 15. He was 91.

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.