MADISON, Wis. – State Senator Fred Risser, D-Madison, 93, retired after 63 years in the Legislature. He is the longest-serving lawmaker in state and national history. He is also the last World War II veteran in office. Among his proudest accomplishment: Advocating the 2010 statewide indoor smoking ban. Risser was elected to the Assembly in 1956, then the Senate in 1962. For him, public service has been a family thing. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were legislators too.
Risser. “May be time for a change,” he says.