Former Wyoming U.S. Sen. Al Simpson Dies At 93, Remembered As Gentle Giant

Wyoming is mourning an almost larger-than-life statesman in former U.S. Sen. Al Simpson, who died Friday, March 14, 2025, at the age of 93.

He will be remembered as much — and maybe more — for the way he carried himself as a human being rather than solely his political achievements. 

Simpson spent the last days of his life at the Spirit Mountain Hospice House in Cody after suffering serious circulation problems in his feet and legs and resulting complications. He leaves behind his wife of 70 years Ann, three children and one brother.

"Today, our state and country mourn the passing of our dear Senator Alan Kooi Simpson," U.S. Cynthia Lummis said in a statement to Cowboy State Daily. "Al was larger than life and spent his entire life working on behalf of the state and people he loved. For 18 years in the U.S. Senate, 12 years in the Wyoming House of Representatives and 28 years as an elder statesman, he worked to make Wyoming a better place for our citizens and an even greater place to work and raise a family. 

“There was no stronger advocate for the needs, industries and interests of Wyoming. During his Senate tenure, he was repeatedly elected by his colleagues to serve in leadership as the Republican whip and was a close friend of both President Reagan and President Bush.”

Simpson, the son of former governor and U.S. Sen. Milward Simpson, grew up in Cody. Known as a bit of a troublemaker in his youth, he quickly cast aside his wild side and joined the Army after graduating from the University of Wyoming. Standing 6-foot-7, he also played on the UW basketball team.

“It was the first time in my life that I couldn’t bullshit my way out of anything,” Simpson remarked to Cowboy State Daily in an interview last summer. “They have a way of doing that in the Army.”

When Simpson returned, he finished out law school and became an attorney in 1958. Before his death, he was one of the longest serving dues-paying attorney in Wyoming.

Into Politics

Working as campaign manager for his father’s successful 1962 campaign for U.S. Senate is where Simpson said he first caught the political bug. He told Ann afterward that he thought he could do it himself.

Simpson went on to serve in the Wyoming Legislature from 1965-1977, which gave him his first foray into politics as a lawmaker. In his first term, the Republicans were in the rare position of being a minority in the state House, which forced him to work with his colleagues to get legislation passed into law.

Rob Wallace, one of Simpson’s close friends and the former assistant secretary of the Interior for Fish, Wildlife and Parks, first got to know Simpson during former Wyoming Sen. Malcolm Wallop’s 1976 campaign.

He said the Simpsons always showed his family great hospitality and gave astute advice on life.

“I watched him over 40-some years of friendship,” Wallace said. “He had that unusual ability to walk into a room with strangers and walk out an hour later with everybody thinking they just made a new best friend.”

Simpson ended up serving in the U.S. Senate from 1979-1997, rising to the level of Senate majority whip from 1985-1987 and minority whip from 1987-1995.

Through it all, his wife Ann Simpson was by his side, thick and thin. The two were married for 70 years. Both Simpsons credited seeking frequent counseling for keeping their bond strong.

“She’s my world, it’s that simple” Simpson said.

Simpson said he hopes the epitaph on his headstone reads, “You would’ve wanted him on your side.”

Loyalty, even when someone he loved made a mistake, was one of his most guiding principles, he said.

“Don’t just jump ship when the crap hits them,” he said.

‘Genuine’

Some of Simpson’s longest and closest friends described him as unflinchingly genuine. Whether he was meeting with one of his constituents or a president of the United States, his demeanor never changed.

Erskine Bowles sat in on many of those presidential meetings with Simpson while the two were co-chairs of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

“Al doesn’t put on a show for anybody — Bush, Clinton, Obama — he was the same,” said Bowles, who was President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. “They all respected them. He told them what he really thought, he was that genuine, that real. They all admired him greatly.”

The significance of the values the two attempted to promote on the commission stayed with Simpson until his death, warning during his 2024 interview with Cowboy State Daily that Social Security won’t have enough money to continue operating by 2034.

Bowles remarked that while the two were touring the country as part of their bipartisan fiscal effort to reduce the deficit, Simpson always provided the comedic relief while also interjecting more of the dry, but substantive, policy information. 

“He got the message across 10 times, 100 times better than I did,” Bowles said. “He’d say, ‘Erskine, you have to bring humor to the talks. If you go more than six minutes without causing them to laugh, you’ll lose them.’”

What made their efforts so successful, Bowles said, was the fact that he, a Democrat, and Simpson, a Republican, genuinely liked each other.

Former Cody Mayor Matt Hall, who appeared in a television commercial in Simpson’s first U.S. Senate campaign, said the statesman inspired him to get into politics and shaped his personal political identity.

“It’s limitless the amount of the impact he’s probably had on me,” Hall said.

The value of bipartisanship, former Wyoming Gov. Mike Sullivan said, is one of the most critical lessons he said Simpson gave him.

Sullivan ran against Simpson’s brother Pete Simpson in the 1986 gubernatorial election. Despite beating his brother, Sullivan said he came out of the race better friends with the two on the other side of the election.

“He helped me recognize the benefits of civility and working together in a nonpartisan manner on many issues, the need for compromise,” Sullivan said.

Deal Broker

Humor was a powerful tool in Simpson’s toolbox that he wielded throughout his life to achieve great success and broker relationships. 

“He used that humor in such a positive way in everything he did,” Bowles said. “I’ve never known a better human being than Al Simpson and will be forever grateful for the friendship we developed.”

Sullivan remarked that Simpson used his wit as both “a shield and sword” to support and push back on certain issues.

Many people point to Simpson as an example of the collegiality and kinship that politics used to represent in a since-passed time. Sullivan said that is a bit of an exaggeration as Simpson was a unicorn even for his time.

“His kind of politics, for a politician, was rare even then,” Sullivan said. “His talents were unusual and special. Anyone then or now could benefit by both reviewing his record, and his speeches and his reputation. To learn that both, you can be successful and make politics, and serve your constituents better.”

A legislator at heart, Simpson said he never could’ve been a governor or administrator.

In 1986, Simpson co-sponsored the Simpson-Mazzoli Act, legislation that remains the last bipartisan major immigration reform measure passed by Congress. The bill strengthened border security measures and imposed penalties on employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers.

Wallace said an amendment Simpson was able to add to the Clean Air Act in 1992 was one of the most critical moves he made while in the Senate. This amendment allowed Wyoming’s low-sulfur coal to be counted as a controlled technology, allowing for far less regulation over the industry.

“Had he not succeeded in doing that, it would have greatly disadvantaged Wyoming’s coal industry,” Wallace said.

Mike Tongour, who worked as a staffer for Simpson for seven years and while he was Republican whip, said he made him the man he is today.

“He kind of brought out the best in people, brought out the best in me,” Tongour said, choking up. “He made me want to do better.”

Life After Politics

In many ways, Simpson is more well known for the work he did after he served in office than while in Congress.

He worked on the Fiscal Responsibility and Reform Commission with Bowles, which gave him international and national notoriety for their efforts. Similarly, he made a “Gangnam Style” video during this time known as “The Can Kicks Back” to help draw attention to their efforts.

He also was frequently seen at public events around Cody and played an active role in the Buffalo Bill Center of the West as a former chairman of its board.

In 2012, he was even called on by famous composer John Williams of “Star Wars” fame to narrate “Peter and the Wolf” for the Boston Symphony Orchestra while Simpson happened to be teaching a class at Harvard University.

He and Williams did shows together for a number of years after, an experience Simpson described as “unbelievable.” 

One of Simpson’s proudest achievements was the creation of The Mineta-Simpson Institute at Heart Mountain Interpretive Center in honor of him and former U.S. Rep. Norm Mineta, D-California, who was a resident of the Heart Mountain Internment Camp. The two struck up an unlikely friendship as Boy Scouts during that time. 

At the 2022 groundbreaking, former Vice President Dick Cheney and his daughter, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, were present.

“He was so proud of what he was able to accomplish at the Heart Mountain Center,” Bowles said. “He felt that was a story that needed to be told.”

That same year, Simpson was honored by former President Joe Biden with a Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Former Senate colleagues, Bowles and Simpson two knew each other for around 45 years, and Bowles said Simpson was the first person in the history of the medal to not seek it out.

“He absolutely earned it,” Bowles said.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso concurred.

“Whether he was serving in the United States Army, the Wyoming House of Representatives or in the United States Senate, his commitment and contributions were evident,” Barrasso said in a 2022 statement. “It’s fitting that Al receives the highest honor an American civilian can get for his service to our country.”

Many of his former Senate colleagues would come out to visit Simpson in his elder years, like former NBA player and Sen. Bill Bradley, D-Missouri, and former Secretary of State Jim Baker, who served under former President George H.W. Bush.

Despite being a lifelong Republican, Simpson found himself at odds with party leadership many times in his final years. 

Simpson said he considered former President George H.W. Bush his favorite president, and the opportunity to give the eulogy at his funeral in 2018 was “one of the great honors of my life.”

The two had a strong friendship, often fishing and hunting together.

His message for future generations to consider would likely be best captured in his Bush eulogy when Simpson said that, “Hatred corrodes the container it's carried in.”

“He always believed it,” Bowles said. “He was always looking for a positive way to convince people to the position he carried.”

Contact Leo Wolfson at leo@cowboystatedaily.com

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.