Bert Lance, Gainesville native and Carter ally, dies at 82

CALHOUN, Ga. (AP) -- Bert Lance, a Georgia banker and close ally of former President Jimmy Carter who served as his first budget director before departing amid an investigation of his bank's lending practices, has died. He was 82.

Gordon County deputy coroner Heath Derryberry said Lance died Thursday night. He said Lance had struggled recently with unspecified health problems, though authorities were unsure of his cause of death.

Lance was born in Gainesville in 1931. His father, Thomas Jackson Lance, had served as president of Young Harris College. When Lance was 10-years-old, the family moved to Calhoun when his father became superintendent of Calhoun schools

In a statement issued Thursday night, Carter said Lance was one of his closest personal friends and that he was a dependable source of advice on intricate state and national issues.

Lance, a former president of the National Bank of Georgia and state highway director, followed Carter to Washington and became OMB director before his career was derailed by what became known as "Lancegate."

He later chaired Georgia's Democratic Party in the early 1980s.

(AccessNorthGa.com's Ken Stanford contributed to this story.

Democratic Presidential candidate Walter Mondale, left, talks to members of the media as Georgia Democratic party chairman Bert Lance looks on in Atlanta on Sept. 7, 1984. (AP Photo/Ric Feld)

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