Former Nebraska Governor Frank Morrison, known as the Father of Nebraska Tourism, died early Monday at McCook Community Hospital after a battle with cancer. He was 98.

Morrison's legacy might be shaped more by what he accomplished in his senior years than any other time in his long, colorful life.

"I know of none who for nearly a century matched his dedication to what was best for his beloved Nebraska," said J.J. Exon, also a former Democratic governor. "Personally, he was like a second father to me."

Although he was born in Colorado and grew up in Kansas, Morrison spent most of his adult life in Nebraska.

"He loved this state as much as anyone and, in every sense of the word, was a statesman," said U.S. Senator Ben Nelson, who grew up in McCook where Morrison began his legal career. "He was as synonymous with Nebraska as the Sandhills, the Panhandle, the Platte and the Huskers."

Morrison was a dedicated public servant, said Governor Mike Johanns.

"He was the champion of the underdog," Johanns said. "Frank Morrison set a standard that all public officials should aspire to achieve."

Governor Johanns ordered that flags be flown at half-staff in memory of Morrison until his funeral.

Morrison was born May 20, 1905, and moved to Lincoln in 1927 to attend the Nebraska College of Law after graduating from Kansas State University.

He took a year off to teach and serve as superintendent at Farwell High School in 1928. After earning a law degree, he taught history and coached debate in Curtis before moving to Maywood to practice law.

He entered politics in 1934, when elected Frontier County Attorney, and met his wife, Maxine, that next year. She died one month ago at 88. Her husband was at her bedside.

Morrison's dream was to serve in Congress, yet he was never elected in five tries. He ran for the House in 1948 and 1954, and for the Senate in 1958, 1966 and 1970.

A Democrat in a Republican state, Morrison was persuaded to run for governor in 1960 by Exon, who promised to manage the campaign.

After serving as governor, Morrison was appointed Douglas County defender in 1970, and was involved in one of the state's most racially divisive cases.

He represented two black men, David Rice and Ed Poindexter, who were convicted of murdering a white Omaha police officer. They were sentenced to life in prison, but Morrison still professed their innocence in his autobiography published in 2001.

He re-entered private life in 1976 as an attorney in Montana, working alongside his oldest son, Frank Jr.

Frank Jr. served as a Montana Supreme Court Justice from 1980-88 and made two unsuccessful bids for governor there. Morrison's grandson, John, was elected to the Montana State Auditor post in 2000 and is running for the office again this year.

He is also survived by another son, David Jon Morrison of Las Vegas and a daughter, Jean Morrison Galloway, of Aurora, Colorado.

In 2000, when Morrison was 95, his dream of a monument celebrating the convergence of the Oregon, Mormon and California trails in Nebraska came true with the construction of the great Platte River Road Archway Monument in Kearney.

While mulling over the idea for decades, Morrison started work on the $60 million archway and its series of multimedia exhibits in the mid-1990s. Although criticized by some as being gaudy, Morrison said it served to bring history alive and celebrate Nebraska's role in the movement west.

Morrison was a familiar sight in the state Capitol, making the trek each year to speak out against the death penalty.

Faced with a three-minute time limit before the Judiciary Committee one year, Morrison replied that he couldn't even say his name in three minutes. The time limit was waived.

While speaking out about capital punishment, or for Nebraska tourism, to Morrison, retirement was not in the cards.

"I don't ever want to retire from life and just play around," Morrison said in May 2001. "Work's my pleasure."

Funeral services are pending.