January 5, 2009 Reed: Pell dedicated life to serving RI Play video

(NECN: Newport, RI) - Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed and other dignitaries gathered this morning to mourn former Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell.

"Claiborne Pell was the commanding political presence throughout my life," said Reed.

"For 36 years, Claiborne Pell did not simply represent Rhode Island in the United States Senate, he represented the ideal of what a public servant should be. He combined wisdom with compassion," said Reed. "Claiborne Pell dedicated his life to selfless service to Rhode Island and to the nation."

Click here to watch the eulogy by Kennedy.

Click here to watch the eulogy by Clinton.

Click here to watch the eulogy by Biden.

Click here to watch the eulogy by Pell's grandson.

The funeral liturgy took place at Trinity Episcopal Church in Newport, Rhode Island.

The Democrat died Thursday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease at the age of 90. Pell created the federal education grants that helped millions of

Americans afford college. He was first elected to the Senate in 1960. He sponsored legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program, which passed in 1972 and provided direct aid to college students.

Pell was also the main Senate sponsor of the 1965 law creating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He participated in the 1945 San Francisco conference that wrote the United Nations charter and served in the U.S. foreign service for seven years.

Pell left office in January 1997 after his sixth term.