Longtime U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, succumbed to cancer yesterday morning, ending an illustrious life that brought him from a work camp in Nazi Hungary to the top of the American political system.

Lantos, who celebrated his 80th birthday Feb. 1, died early Monday morning due to complications from cancer at Bethesda Naval Medical Center in Maryland. He was the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress. He served 27 years in Congress, was one of the top ranked Democrats and chaired the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. His death comes just five weeks after he announced he would not run for a 15th term in Congress because he was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.

“Tom was a living reminder,” President George W. Bush said in a statement Monday, “that we must never turn a blind eye to the suffering of the innocent at the hands of evil men.”

His death brought dozen of accolades from those who worked with Lantos over the last three decades. And despite all the good words lavished on Lantos, it was his own words that many said best described the essence of Lantos and his will to work for the disenfranchised around the world.

“It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country.”

His sudden death means many people never had the chance to fully express their gratitude to Lantos.

“We are forever indebted to Congressman Lantos for his devoted service to our nation and his example of courage that will continue to be admired by all Californians,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said in a statement yesterday.

It was one of many statements issued in hours following the news of Lantos’ death. The state will ultimately decide how to go about filling his position until the November election. Former State Sen. Jackie Speier remains the frontrunner for the seat.

Speier was scheduled to officially file her papers for office yesterday, but canceled when news of Lantos’ death reached her. Speier and Lantos were both elected to public office the same year — she to the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, Lantos to Congress.

The two met occasionally at a coffee shop to “exchange war stories” during their elections. In the years following, they would be in mutual company four to five times a year. While both are considerably different politically, they were driven by similar life experiences, Speier said.

Speier was shot and left for dead on a tarmac in Guyana while researching the People’s Temple with U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, who was assassinated on the trip. Lantos escaped from a Nazi work camp during World War II and was the only Holocaust survivor elected to Congress.

“Your experience molds you and creates a frame of reference,” Speier said. “You become somewhat fearless when you have a brush with death.”

Lantos was fearless with his words, earning respect throughout the world for his commanding language. His comments demanded attention, whether he was taking on the founders of Yahoo! for their participation in the jailing of a Chinese journalist or protesting those who participated in horrendous genocide in Darfur.

Lantos’ legacy will be for his commitment to international human rights, civil liberties and social justice. Locally, he brought in federal money to protect open space and make transit improvements for Bay Area Rapid Transit’s expansion to San Francisco International Airport and the Devil’s Slide tunnel.

Growing up

Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary, on Feb. 1, 1928. He was 16 years old when Nazi Germany occupied his native country. As a teenager, he was a member of the anti-Nazi underground and later of the anti-Communist student movement.

He already knew his future wife, Annette Tillman. The two were childhood sweethearts separated during World War II. Annette went into hiding at the Portuguese Embassy to escape the Nazis and Tom was forced into a local labor camp. They sent letters to each other through intermediaries. Annette is the first cousin of Zsa Zsa and Eva Gabor and this relation placed her father on the top 10 list of wanted people. She eventually was taken to Switzerland in November 1944 and returned to a severely hobbled country in November 1945. In the meantime, Tom spent time in the labor camps while others in his family perished on the Soviet front. He escaped the camp and was caught and beaten.

“They beat me to a pulp. I’m pleasantly surprised I survived,” he told the Daily Journal in 2007.

Tom and Annette were united briefly in Budapest before he was awarded an academic scholarship to study in the United States, and he arrived here in 1947. He received a bachelor’s and master’s in arts in economics from the University of Washington in Seattle and later earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Annette later joined him in the United States, and they were married in California in July 1950.

Annette said in a statement yesterday that her husband’s life was “defined by courage, optimism and unwavering dedication to his principles and to his family.”

From 1950 to 1980, Lantos was a professor of economics, an international affairs analyst for public television and a consultant to a number of businesses. He also served in senior advisory roles to members of the United States Senate.

It was his youth in Nazi Hungary and opportunity to study in the United States that shaped his commitment in Congress.

Human rights

In 2006, at the age of 78, Lantos was among five members of Congress arrested in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. for disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly. The misdemeanor carried a fine, but the attention it received helped shed light on the human rights injustices in Sudan.

Lantos was born in Budapest, Hungary. In 1944, as a teenager, he was sent to a forced labor camp. He escaped on his second attempt and three years later came to the United States on an academic scholarship. He is married to Annette, his childhood sweetheart.

In his first year as chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, the panel held a series of hearings about Internet companies Google and Yahoo cooperating with Chinese authorities who jailed human rights advocates. During the hearings, Lantos was noted for calling the leaders of Yahoo! “moral pygmies” for assisting the oppressive government.

On Dec. 31, 2007, President Bush signed into law a bill authorizing state and local governments to divest from companies doing business in Sudan. Lantos cosponsored the House version of the bill, which passed 418-1.

In 1983, Lantos was a founding co-chairman of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

His wife, Annette “worked literally by Tom’s side, day in and day out” in managing that caucus, said Lantos spokeswoman Lynne Weil.

The caucus is going to continue its work and it is unclear yet whether Annette Lantos will return in her full capacity to the caucus, Weil said.

Local issues

Lantos was occasionally criticized for not spending enough time working on local issues by some, but his record shows a commitment to local environmental and transportation issues. He authored legislation for regional issues like his effort to expand the Golden Gate National Recreation Area by more 5,000 acres, making it the largest urban park in the United States. He also helped secure funding to bring Bay Area Rapid Transit from San Francisco to the San Francisco International Airport and Millbrae.

He was a key player in the movement to construct the Devil’s Slide tunnel between Pacifica and Montara. The $322 million project is schedule to open in 2010. At the September groundbreaking ceremony, Lantos said it was “quintessentially a people’s project” that he got behind after seeing how many residents wanted the tunnel. State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, later introduced legislation to name the tunnel after Lantos.

War in Iraq

Unlike his record of human rights advocacy, constituents consistently challenged Lantos’ decisions when it came to the war in Iraq.

Lantos voted for the October 2002 resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use force to oust Saddam Hussein, but became a harsh critic of the administration’s conduct of the war for the past five years.

His initial support of the war and his conservative approach to pulling troops from Iraq and Afghanistan earned him regular protesters outside his San Mateo district office.

However, he managed to keep his lead over marginal challengers in the last three elections despite what appeared to be growing disregard for his stance on the war. Perennial candidate Mike Maloney lost on the Republican ticket in 2006. Lantos earned 76.1 percent of the vote while Maloney gathered 23.9 percent — the closest race in his recent career.

Unfinished business

Lantos leaves two major projects unfinished. His most recent press release, issued Feb. 7, addressed the reauthorization of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) for another five years. The law, first passed in 2003, allocates $15 billion to fight the worldwide spread of AIDS.

The bill was scheduled to a revision hearing Thursday, but that will likely be postponed to late February in light of the circumstances, Weil said.

Another bit of unfinished business was the U.S. Sen. Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act of 2007. The legislation, introduced by Lantos, would create a national program to establish study abroad as the norm, not the exception, for undergraduate students.

Lantos listed the bill as one of the most significant dealt with by the Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2007.

Approximately 50 staff members in his District Office, Washington D.C. Office and Foreign Affairs Office will remain on the job for the time being, Weil said.

A public memorial is expected later this week in Washington, D.C., Weil said.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.