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Former Navajo lawmaker Daniel Peaches dies at 82, remembered as dedicated public servant

Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President

Funeral services were held Friday for a former Arizona state representative from the Navajo Nation.

Daniel Peaches died Tuesday of cancer at the age of 82, according to a statement by the Navajo Nation Council.

Peaches was elected to the state House in 1974 as a Republican and served five terms before he lost a bid for reelection in 1984.

He also served for decades on Northland Pioneer College’s governing board and was appointed by former President Richard Nixon as a member of the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

Peaches held various other roles in tribal government and within his community of Kayenta. His funeral services were held in nearby Black Mesa.

He was remembered as a loving father, grandfather and husband, and as someone who was revered in his community as a medicine man and a public servant.