Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson dies in his sleep at 75 as colleagues mourn 'mentor and dear friend'

FORMER New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has died at the age of 75 as tributes pour in about his life of service.

Richardson died in his sleep on Friday at his Massachusetts summer home, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement said in a statement.

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The democratic politician also served as Energy Secretary and United Nations ambassador under former president Bill Clinton's administration.

“He lived his entire life in the service of others – including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad," vice president of Richardson's nonprofit, Mickey Bergman, said in a statement.

"There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom."

Bergman added: “The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend.”

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Richardson was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1983.

He represented New Mexico's Third District.

Richardson was born in Pasadena, California in 1947, but grew up in Mexico City, Mexico before attending a boarding school in Massachusetts.

He debuted his political career in the 1970s as an aide to then-Massachusetts Representative Frank Bradford Morse.

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Richardson then became a staff member for the US State Department and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The politician went on to serve as the governor of New Mexico after being elected in 2002, following his service as a US ambassador to the United Nations and his time as the US Secretary of Energy.

Richardson also was a democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential election.

He left the governor's office in 2011 after serving two terms.

That year, Richardson created the Richardson Center for Global Engagement.

His nonprofit promotes international peace and allowed him to engage directly with foreign entities.

Richardson is survived by his wife of 51 years, Barbara Flavin, and their daughter, Heather Blaine Richardson.