MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye, who died Monday, left a big mark on Wisconsin during his 50-plus years in Washington.

In 1990 – after several years of massive protests by sportsmen over Chippewa Indian spearfishing treaty rights – Inouye came to Wisconsin to search for a peaceful solution.

It didn’t happen right away, but a truce did occur not too long afterward. And former Governor Tommy Thompson said at the time that Inouye’s involvement was a “giant step.”

The 88-year-old Inouye was a Democrat who was well respected on both sides of the aisle – partially because of his love of Native Americans which he demonstrated in Wisconsin.

Senate Republican Ron Johnson of the Badger State called Inouye a “true patriot,” and “his lifetime of service and sacrifice for his country will long be remembered.”

He wanted to be a surgeon, but he lost his right arm in a fire-fight with the Germans in 1945 during World War II.

Inouye was the nation’s longest-serving senator when he died from respiratory complications at a Washington hospital. He was the second-to-last World War II veteran to serve in the Senate. He was the Senate’s Pro Tem, making him Number 3 in the presidential succession order behind the vice president and House speaker.

He chaired the Senate’s powerful appropriations committee. And he was in Congress for as long as Hawaii has been a state, first serving in the House since 1959 and the Senate since 1962.