Former Rep. Lud Ashley (D-Ohio) died Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reported Wednesday. He was 87.

Thomas William Ludlow Ashley represented his Toledo district for 13 terms, from 1955 to 1981, and he was known for fighting urban poverty, the AP reported.

Ashley was born in Toledo in 1923, and he served in the Army as a corporal in the Pacific during World War II. He graduated from Yale University in 1948 and earned his law degree from Ohio State University Law School at Columbus in 1951.

He worked for Radio Free Europe from 1952 to 1954, when he was elected to Congress. He was chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Energy in the 95th Congress and chairman of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee in the 96th Congress. He founded a legal and Congressional consulting firm in Washington after he left the House.

His great-grandfather was James Mitchell Ashley, who represented Ohio in the House from 1859 to 1869 as a Republican.

Martinson Funeral Home in northern Michigan confirmed Ashley’s death at his home in Leland, Mich., to the Associated Press. The Washington Post reported that he had melanoma, a form of skin cancer.