Former Texas congressman Jack Brooks dies - KYTX CBS 19 Tyler Longview News Weather Sports

(CNN) - Former Texas congressman Jack Brooks, who served in the House for more than four decades, has died.

Authorities say he died Tuesday night at a hospital in Beaumont after a sudden illness. He died peacefully, surrounded by family, just shy of his 90th birthday. He was in the Dallas motorcade in 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He is also spotted in the background right behind Jackie Kennedy-- in the iconic photo showing President Johnson take the oath of office aboard Air Force One later that day.

Brooks, a Democrat, was pro-gun rights, pro-labor, a fierce partisan and was known to stubbornly puff on cigars in non-smoking areas.