According to former colleagues and local reports, Connecticut’s state auditor was found dead in his home Friday night.
Robert Kane, 54, was found after family members requested a wellness test.
“I am saddened to hear of the sudden passing of Rob Kane, State Auditor and former State Senator, who has worked for more than a decade on behalf of Connecticut residents,” Lieutenant Gov. Susan Bysiewicz tweeted Friday night. “My heart breaks for his family. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this difficult time.”
According to police, family members told them they had not heard from him all day. Additional details about his death were not immediately available.
CONNECTICUT COLD CASE MURDER SOLVED VIA DNA EVIDENCE
The former state senator’s main performance as a legislator was the Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, which was aimed at protecting minors who were victims of human trafficking and increasing fines for traffickers.
He was a father of two, according to his bio on the state’s website.
“Many friends of his, inside and outside politics, reach out to each other and try to make sense of it … I will miss him very much,” former State Representative Brian Flaherty, also from Watertown, told the Hartford Courant. . “It was a man who most of the time you’d seen him lately had a smile on his face, and is that not what you want to wish for someone?”
Kane was one of two state auditors in Connecticut. He has been in the position since February 2017.
He served in the state Senate in 2008. Before that, he was on the board of directors.
“This is a very sad day for the city of Watertown and the state to lose a true civil servant,” Joshua Bernegger, Watertown police chief, told the Republican American, a local newspaper.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
According to the Connecticut draft, each major party has an auditor and the pair share control of an agency that oversees the state’s public finances.
Democratic auditor John Geragosian did not immediately respond to a request for comment.