Former Wyoming Sen. Malcolm Wallop dies

Former three-term Sen. Malcolm Wallop, who became a leading conservative voice during the Reagan era in fighting for space defense and a tough anti-communist policy in Central America, died Wednesday. He was 78.

Kerrie Kimmel of the Kane Funeral Home said Wallop died at his home near the small community of Big Horn in northern Wyoming. Family friend and Cody Enterprise publisher Bruce McCormack said Wallop has been ill for the last couple of years.

The Republican served in the Senate from 1977 to 1995.

Former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Sen. Al Simpson served with him as part of Wyoming's congressional delegation for 10 years. His 18 years in the Senate included time as the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources and Armed Services committees.

"Malcolm was sort of the spark plug, he was the senior guy, and Al and I were delighted to work with him," Cheney said in a telephone interview from Florida.

Wallop gained a significant victory when President Ronald Reagan began pushing the spaced-based, anti-missile defense concept, which Wallop had espoused for years before Reagan came to support it.

Wallop was born Feb. 27, 1933, in New York City -- his rancher parents were there for only a brief time -- and attended Big Horn School and Cate School, a private boarding school in Carpinteria, Calif. He graduated from Yale in 1954.

Wallop served in the U.S. Army from 1954 to 1957 and returned to Wyoming to ranch.

He served two terms in the Wyoming House, from 1969 to 1972, and one term in the Wyoming Senate, from 1973 to 1976. He ran for Wyoming governor in 1974, losing in the Republican primary.

He is survived by his wife, Isabel, and four children.