Former Montana congressman Ron Marlenee, a Republican who served for eight terms representing the state’s old eastern district, died Sunday in Bozeman. He was 84.
Marlenee, a farmer and rancher from Scobey in Montana’s northeastern corner, won the eastern district congressional seat in 1976 and was re-elected seven times.
He then lost a close statewide race in 1992 to then-Rep. Pat Williams, a Democrat representing Montana’s western district, when the state’s two congressional seats were combined into a single district.