Former Bay Area Congressman "Pete" McCloskey, who co-founded Earth Day, dead at 96

Former Bay Area Congressman Paul "Pete" McCloskey died Wednesday of congestive heart failure at his home in Winters, California.

His death was announced in a statement emailed to CBS News Bay Area by family spokesman Lee Houskeeper.

McCloskey died peacefully, in the home where he lived with his wife Helen and six rescue dogs, the statement said. He was 96 years old.

As a U.S. Congressman, he represented San Mateo County from 1967-1983.

McCloskey will be remembered as a maverick in politics: a liberal Republican and fiscal conservative, who in 1970, co-founded Earth Day and helped to write the Endangered Species Act of 1973. McCloskey was in favor of abortion rights and supported stem cell research.

Born in Loma Linda, McCloskey earned a law degree at Stanford in 1953. He was a deputy D.A. in Alameda County.

He served in the military from 1945 to 1974, in the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. When he retired from the Marine Corps Reserves, McCloskey had achieved the rank of colonel.

He was awarded several military honors, including the Navy Cross for extraordinary heroism, the Silver Star for bravery in combat, and two Purple Hearts as a Marine during the Korean War.

McCloskey was the first member of Congress to call for then-President Richard Nixon's impeachment and the first to come out against the Vietnam War.

McCloskey changed his party affiliation to Democratic in 2007.