JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Former Missouri Lt. Gov. Bill Phelps has died.
Officials at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada, Missouri confirmed his Tuesday death. He was 84. No cause of death was given.
Phelps worked as a Kansas City attorney before being elected to the state House in 1960. He served as a state representative for 12 years until he was elected lieutenant governor in 1972. Voters re-elected him to another four-year term in 1976.
He earned the nickname “full-time” Phelps because of a campaign promise to serve fulltime as lieutenant governor, a job with few official duties. He gave up his work as an attorney after his election.
He lost the Republican nomination for governor in 1980 and later lost a bid for Congress in 1996 against former Democratic U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton.
