Ex-Maryland Gov. Harry R. Hughes dies at 92; served 2 terms

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Former Maryland Gov. Harry R. Hughes, who prided himself on restoring public faith in the political process, died Wednesday. He was 92.

His daughter, Elizabeth Hughes, said Hughes' had been in hospice.

"I was holding his hand," she said. "He was a wonderful dad. He was a kind generous man, and he had a great sense of humor."

In a statement on Hughes' passing, Gov. Larry Hogan said Wednesday that flags will be flown at half-staff until sunset of the day of interment. Hogan described Hughes as "a longtime friend and Maryland legend whom I deeply admired."

The two-term Democratic governor, who served from 1979 to 1987, also spent 16 years in the General Assembly and seven as Maryland's first transportation secretary.

Hughes came to the governor's mansion at a time when Maryland had become a national symbol for corruption. Gov. Marvin Mandel had been sentenced to jail on political corruption charges and former Gov. Spiro T. Agnew had pleaded no contest to income tax evasion.

Hughes said in a January 1987 interview with The Associated Press that he was most proud of restoring integrity to state government.

"It's an intangible, but very important," Hughes said at the time.

He left political life after a failed bid for the U.S. Senate, saddled by the public with much of the blame for the 1985 savings and loan debacle.

"Looking back, I wouldn't have done anything differently," he said of the one blot on his record. "I think we handled it well."

Hughes and the legislature moved quickly to create a state agency that took over from the private agency that insured the thrifts. Most depositors got all their money back.

Born in Easton on Nov. 13, 1926, Hughes enlisted in the Navy at age 17 and served a year and a half with the Navy Air Corps in World War...