BISMARCK, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The Office of Attorney General announces that Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem passed away unexpectedly on Friday January 28, 2022. He was 68.

“We know Wayne was a widely respected and well-known public figure, but we ask that his family be allowed time to grieve in private,” his office announced in a release.

Funeral arrangements have been made for Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem who died last week. The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, February 3rd at the Bismarck Event Center Exhibit Hall. Visitation will take place Wednesday, February 2nd from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the North Dakota State Capitol Great Hall. Both are open to the public.

Stenehjem, a former legislator and the state’s longest-serving attorney general, died at age 68, just hours after he was taken to a hospital Friday, according to his office. No cause of death has been made public.

Stenehjem spent 24 years in the Legislature before being elected attorney general in 2000, then winning five more times.