Warren Rudman’s 1996 memoir about his time as Senator from New Hampshire was called Combat. Though the two-term Republican could stand his ground, Rudman, who died Nov. 19 at 82, will be remembered as a lawmaker capable of bipartisan compromise. Effective government was the goal of two bills he co-authored that tried to compel Congress and the President to move toward a balanced budget. George Mitchell, a Democratic Senator from Maine, said it best when he described Rudman this way: “There are elected officials who can rise above partisanship, who define the national interest as just that: the interest of the nation. And act on it.”
This text originally appeared in the Dec. 03, 2012 issue of TIME magazine.