Editing Arlen Specter (section)

==Illness and death==
On February 16, 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form of [[Hodgkin's lymphoma]], a type of cancer. Despite this, Specter continued working during [[chemotherapy]]. He ended treatment on July 22. Senator [[John E. Sununu|John Sununu]] (R-[[New Hampshire|NH]]) shaved his head to show solidarity with Specter, who was temporarily bald while undergoing chemotherapy. On April 15, 2008, Specter announced his cancer had returned, at a stage "significantly less advanced than his Hodgkin's disease when it was originally diagnosed in 2005."<ref name="NYT-AP-Hodgkin's-2008-04-16">{{cite news|title=Specter Announces Cancer Recurrence|date=April 16, 2008|work=The New York Times|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/16brfs-SPECTERANNOU_BRF.html|access-date=April 28, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Arlen Specter's Hodgkin's disease returns|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/15/arlen.specter/index.html |publisher=CNN |date=April 15, 2008|access-date=April 29, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425073201/http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/15/arlen.specter/index.html|archive-date=April 25, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> He underwent a second round of chemotherapy, which ended on July 14, 2008.<ref>{{cite news |title=Specter finishes chemotherapy |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/07/specter_finishes_chemotherapy.html |date=July 14, 2008 |work=Pennlive.com |access-date=April 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725071834/http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2008/07/specter_finishes_chemotherapy.html |archive-date=July 25, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On August 28, 2012, it was announced that Specter was battling a "serious form of cancer" and hospitalized. He was diagnosed six weeks earlier with a new form of the disease.<ref>{{cite news|title=Source: Former Sen. Arlen Specter battling for his life|url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/28/politics/arlen-specter-ill/index.html|publisher=CNN|access-date=August 28, 2012}}</ref>
On September 7, 2012, he was released from a Philadelphia hospital, but was expected to return there for additional treatment.<ref>{{cite news|title=Arlen Specter Released, Has Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/arlen-specter-released-has-non-hodgkins-lymphoma|agency=Associated Press|access-date=September 7, 2012}}</ref>

Specter died from complications of [[non-Hodgkin's lymphoma]], aged 82, on October 14, 2012, at his home in Philadelphia.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rucker|first=Philip|title=Arlen Specter dies; he was Pennsylvania's longest-serving senator|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/arlen-specter-dies-he-was-pennsylvanias-longest-serving-senator/2012/10/14/4b428a96-c5dc-11df-94e1-c5afa35a9e59_story.html|access-date=2012-10-14|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=2012-10-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Jackson |first=Peter |title=Longtime Gop Senate Moderate Arlen Specter Dies |url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_ARLEN_SPECTER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-14-13-03-16 |access-date=2012-10-14 |publisher=Associated Press |date=2012-10-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015024241/http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBIT_ARLEN_SPECTER?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-14-13-03-16 |archive-date=2012-10-15 }}</ref> Statements of condolence were issued by President and Mrs. Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Mrs. Biden, the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, and by many of his colleagues and former opponents in the U.S. Congress, the Pennsylvania legislature, and the city of Philadelphia, among many others. Senator Specter, while he had been accused of alienating both parties due to certain positions he took and due to the two times he switched parties, among other issues, was nonetheless respected by many as a principled statesman who did much for his state and country, including by those in politics and the legislature, both in Pennsylvania and his home state, Kansas, as well as across the U.S. and beyond. He was the longest-serving of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senators. As a sign of this respect and out of mourning, President Obama ordered U.S. flags to be lowered to half-staff at public institutions and military bases in Washington, D.C., and the rest of the country on his day of interment.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/10/15/presidential-proclamation-death-arlen-specter |title=Presidential Proclamation – Death of Arlen Specter |date= 2012-10-15|via=[[NARA|National Archives]] |website=[[whitehouse.gov]] |access-date=October 16, 2012}}</ref>