James H. Quillen died Sunday of congestive heart failure at the age of 87 in Kingsport.He was the longest continually serving Congressman in Tennessee’s political history, serving a record 34 years.

He also was a strong supporter of ETSU and fought to get federal support and funding to build the medical school.

He won that fight when the Tennessee General Assembly approved the medical school in 1974, which was then named in honor of Quillen in 1989.

The first class enrolled in 1978 and graduated in 1982.

“Jimmy Quillen love East Tennessee State University deeply and demonstrated that love and loyalty throughout his political career and his subsequent retirement,” said ETSU President Paul E. Stanton, Jr said in a statement released Monday.

Quillen also established the James H. Quillen Chair of Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 1994 in the ETSU College of Education.

It’s a position held by a scholar who addresses issues related to teaching, its relationship to learning and innovative practice and problem solving, according to the chair of excellence web site.

“And our wonderful library, which he enthusiastically advocated, will stand as a memorial to his undying devotion to constituents, with a replica of his Washington, D.C., office and memorabilia from his brilliant career in politics there for all to view and appreciate,” Stanton said.

There is a section on the fourth floor of the Sherrod Library that has been devoted to Quillen, thanks in part to the fact that Quillen donated many of his personal papers and artifacts that he collected over the course of his years of public service, including a piece of the Berlin Wall and his extensive collection of elephant, according to the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services web site.

“Jimmy Quillen never forgot a friend, and his influence will forever be felt on the ETSU campus. It is indeed a better place because of his remarkable life and work,” Stanton said.

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