DEARBORN, MI – Standing six feet, three inches tall, U.S. Rep. John Dingell was a towering presence in the nation’s capital for decades, with a list of accomplishments to match his longevity.

In a career spanning nearly 60 years, from 1955 until he retired in January 2015, the Michigan Democrat and World War II veteran helped shape landmark legislation in support of the environment, civil rights, the American auto industry and access to health care.

Dingell, the longest-serving member of Congress in U.S. history, died Thursday, Feb. 7 after battling cancer and heart trouble.

He was 92.

Hailing from Dearborn, Dingell represented various parts of southeast Michigan over the years as district lines changed, including the Ann Arbor area and suburban Detroit’s Downriver communities.

He chaired the House Energy and Commerce Committee for many years and was dean of the House from 1995-2015.

He made his first run for office at age 29 after the death of his father, John Dingell Sr., taking over the seat his father held for 22 years.

He served 30 consecutive terms, winning re-election every two years before stepping down at age 88.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, who took over the seat four years ago, recently indicated her husband’s health was declining. Diagnosed with prostate cancer that metastasized, he went into hospice care.

The former congressman survived a heart attack in September, after which he tweeted, "Rumors of my demise may have only been slightly exaggerated, but I’m still here and you’re not done with me yet.”

Dingell was known for his often-humorous tweets on everything from Michigan sports to politics. He occasionally took shots at Republicans and made it clear he wasn’t a fan of Donald Trump.

“Crooks like Trump will steal a hot stove and come back for the smoke. There’s no bar too low,” he tweeted in January, referring to the president in another tweet as “a damned two-bit grifter.”

Dingell served in Congress under 11 presidents, including Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Obama awarded Dingell the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014, just before he retired.

“When John Dingell’s father, a New Deal Democrat, passed away in 1955, John stepped up,” Obama said. “And over the course of six decades — a congressional career longer than any in history — John built a peerless record of his own. He gaveled in the vote for Medicare, helped lead the fight for the Civil Rights Act.

“For more than half a century, in every single Congress, John introduced a bill for comprehensive health care. That is, until he didn’t have to do it anymore. I could not have been prouder to have John by my side when I signed the Affordable Care Act into law.”

Dingell’s lifetime of public service was a reminder that change takes time, courage and persistence, Obama said.

Born in 1926, Dingell was introduced to politics at a young age and was a child of the House long before he was dean.

As the son of a congressman, he made his first appearance on the House floor at age 6 and became a House page at 11.

At 15, he was there when President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his famous “date which will live in infamy” speech to Congress after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941.

At 18, Dingell was drafted into the Army and, after a bout with meningitis, went to infantry officer training at Fort Benning, Georgia, which “made a man out of me” and taught him how to lead, he said.

He became a second lieutenant, though never saw combat and never left the U.S. until the war was over. He had orders to join the invasion of Japan, but President Harry Truman “spoiled the whole thing” by dropping an atomic bomb on the Japanese, Dingell once recalled, crediting that as the reason he was still alive.

Among his environmental achievements were the 1972 Clean Water Act, 1973 Endangered Species Act and 1990 Clean Air Act.

He also helped establish the Detroit International Wildlife Refuge and had a hand in Safe Drinking Water Act amendments. He faced criticism from some environmentalists who viewed him as beholden to automakers and reluctant to impose limits on carbon emissions.

He also was a thorn in his party’s side on gun rights at times. An avid hunter whose kills decorated his office, Dingell was a pro-gun Democrat who once served on the National Rifle Association’s board and picked up endorsements from the gun lobby. The NRA gave him high marks as a staunch defender of the Second Amendment.

Dingell’s views on marriage evolved during his political career. In 1996, he supported the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as the legal union of one man and one woman. By 2012, he changed his stance and came out in support of same-sex marriage.

Dingell considered the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the landmark law ending various forms of discrimination, his proudest vote in Congress.

In recent years, Dingell walked hunched over with a cane and spoke softly, but his mind remained sharp and his quick wit never faded.

Around Christmas each year, he would release his annual “Dingell Jingle,” a holiday-themed song or poem looking back at the past year in Congress.

On Paczki Day each year, Dingell, who was of Polish decent, had a tradition of delivering boxes of the jelly-filled treats to anyone lucky enough to be in his good graces.

During his last run for office in 2012, he said he was proud of the work he was still doing.

"I've gotten a lot of jobs for my people," he said. "I've saved the auto industry, I am continuing important local projects like the national park we're building in Monroe, or the refuge which we're building on the Detroit River for Fish and Wildlife, which is now close to 6,000 acres."

He also pulled some strings in Washington to help Ann Arbor land a $13.9 million federal grant in 2010 to pay for reconstruction of the crumbling Stadium bridges near the Big House.

"I've been responsible for thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into this district, including $263 million that I got just on health for the University of Michigan alone," he said. "But we've also done that for the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Eastern Michigan, Henry Ford, and Wayne and Washtenaw Community College."

Dingell also helped secure more than $28 million in federal funds for a new transit center in Dearborn that now bears his name.

In December, he published his memoir, "The Dean: The Best Seat in the House,” offering a candid, behind-the-scenes account of American politics over the past 80 years.

Dingell was known for working across the aisle with both Republicans and Democrats, but he lamented that was growing increasingly difficult to do in his later years, complaining about a lack of collegiality, refusal to compromise and loss of traditions.

Delivering his final “State of the District” speech to an Ann Arbor crowd in 2014, he said he was proud to be an American and thankful to have served “the most wonderful country in the history of mankind.”

But he expressed sadness over what he saw as a growing partisan divide in Washington.

"Our government is not satisfying us much anymore, and frankly I'm always sad when I see that because this is my government," he said.

His retirement didn’t mean he was quitting, he said.

“I’m just coming home,” he told the Ann Arbor crowd. “I’m going to spend more time with the people that I know and love."

Dingell had four children from his first marriage to Helen Henebry, including his son Christopher, a Michigan judge. He married his second wife, Debbie, who worked for General Motors, in 1981.

He passed away peacefully at his home in Dearborn with his wife by his side. He’s to be laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

One last time, John Dingell’s greatest tweets