For more than two decades, Mike Enzi was one member of Wyoming's delegation to the United States Senate. As indicated by CNN, Enzi was often thought of as keeping a low profile.
However, in actuality, he would become one of the Senate's most influential members. He left his Congressional career behind earlier this year. But sadly, his Earthly retirement would turn out to be tragically short.
Passed away on July 26
On July 23, Mike Enzi crashed while riding a bicycle not far from his home. The injuries he sustained were severe, reportedly including a broken neck and multiple broken ribs.
Three days later, a tweet from Enzi's Twitter account gave an update but few details. Summarizing that details of the accident and the extent of his injuries were unknown, as noted by Politico. But later that same day, Enzi would pass away.
Enzi was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. He'd defeated John Barrasso in the Republican primary. Like Enzi, Barrasso would also eventually go on to become a prominent United States senator. The seat in question was being vacated by former Senate Majority Whip Alan Simpson, also a Republican. Simpson had opted not to run for another term in the Senate.
Mike Enzi would be re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014. Each of these times, he won by a significant margin.
He would become chairman of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee and the Senate Budget Committee. Enzi chose not to run for re-election in 2020. Republican former U.S. Representative was elected to succeed him.
Enzi's career in elected Politics began as mayor of Gillette in northeastern Wyoming. He would hold the office for several years.
Later, he won races twice over for both the Wyoming House of Representatives and the Wyoming Senate.
Enzi was a military veteran
A grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, Enzi was born in Bremerton, Washington, near Seattle. His father had been stationed in the area while serving in the military. The Enzi family would later settle in Thermopolis in central Wyoming.
In his youth, Mike Enzi became an Eagle Scout. Later on in his life, he would receive the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
For several years, he served in the Wyoming Air National Guard. He would achieve the rank of staff sergeant. Enzi graduated from George Washington University with a degree in accounting. He later also earned a master's degree in accounting from the University of Denver.
Before going into politics, Enzi took over his father's business, a chain of shoe stores. He also became the president of Wyoming's chapter for the United States Junior Chamber. He was perhaps better known as the Jaycees.
