(FILES) Chairman Senator Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, speaks during the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing on Cruise Industry Oversight March 1, 2012 at the Russell Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Former US senator Jay Rockefeller, an heir to one of America's wealthiest dynasties who devoted decades to fighting poverty and expanding healthcare, has died aged 89, US media reported on November 6, 2026. The Democrat represented the impoverished, coal-mining state of West Virginia in the Senate for 30 years, after serving two terms as governor. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP via Getty Images)