Jack Kemp, former Congressman and star quarter-back, George Bush Senior’s housing secretary and Bob Dole’s running mate, noted “compassionate conservative,” good-natured supply-sider and defender of Reagonomics, died of cancer today.

Kemp seemed to me to be one of the truly genial and sincere figures in politics. Here’s a characteristic quote:

“Pro football gave me a good perspective. When I entered the political arena, I had already been booed, cheered, cut, sold, traded, and hung in effigy.”

And a quick bio from Yahoo News.

“Kemp was born in California to Christian Scientist parents. He worked on the loading docks of his father’s trucking company as a boy before majoring in physical education at Occidental College, where he led the nation’s small colleges in passing.

He became a Presbyterian after marrying his college sweetheart, Joanne Main. The couple had four children, including two sons who played professional football. He joined with a son and son-in-law to form a Washington strategic consulting firm, Kemp Partners, after leaving office.

Through his political life, Kemp’s positions spanned the social spectrum: He opposed abortion and supported school prayer, yet appealed to liberals with his outreach toward minorities and compassion for the poor. He pushed for immigration reform to include a guest-worker program and status for the illegal immigrants already here….”

In January this year, around the time Kemp’s cancer was diagnosed, The American Conservative ran a long piece on his contributions.

The Am Con piece notes that Kemp would send his children out into the world everyday with three words:

“Be a leader.”

The rest of us might find them worth remembering too.

R.I.P. Jack Kemp.
(More later)