Richard Blum Dies, Husband of California Sen. Feinstein

*FILE – Richard Blum in San Francisco, Nov . 7, 2006. Blum, the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 86. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)*

WASHINGTON (AP) — Richard Blum, husband of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. He was 86.

Feinstein announced her husband’s death in a statement Monday morning that said her “heart is broken today.”

She said her husband, a wealthy San Francisco investor, “left things better than he found them” and was devoted to his family. She described his work for the people of the Himalayas and noted he was a longtime friend of the Dalai Lama.

“My husband was my partner and best friend for more than 40 years,” Feinstein said in the statement. “He was by my side for the good times and for the challenges. I am going to miss him terribly.”
-Sen. Dianne Feinstein

FILE – In this April 20, 2021, file photo, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaks during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing to examine the American Jobs Plan, focusing on infrastructure, climate change, and investing in our nation’s future on Capitol Hill in Washington. The sweeping $1 trillion infrastructure bill approved by the Senate this week includes funding for Western water projects that farmers, water providers and environmentalists say are badly needed across the parched region. (Oliver Contreras/The Washington Post via AP, Pool, File)

Feinstein, 88, has missed votes in recent weeks as her husband’s health declined, contributing to Democrats’ fragile 50-50 majority. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., is also absent after suffering a stroke in January. He is expected to return in the coming weeks, ahead of an expected April vote on Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, said Blum was a “dear friend, a devoted philanthropist and a proud San Franciscan” who was a donor to arts and anti-hunger programs in the city.

Blum was the chairman of Blum Capital Partners, an equity investment management firm. He is also the former chairman of the University of California Board of Regents and a former chairman of the advisory board for the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He served on former President Barack Obama’s Global Development Council.

by MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press