BREAKING: Walter ‘Fritz’ Mondale, former vice president under Jimmy Carter, dead at 93

 (KYMA/KECY) - Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale, who served as vice president under then-President Jimmy Carter before waging his own unsuccessful White House bid in 1984, has died, according to a family spokesperson. He was 93.

Mondale died at home in downtown Minneapolis surrounded by family, spokesperson Kathy Tunheim said.

"It is with profound sadness that we share news that our beloved dad passed away today in Minneapolis, Minnesota," Mondale's family said in a statement. "As proud as we were of him leading the presidential ticket for Democrats in 1984, we know that our father's public policy legacy is so much more than that."

In the final days of his life, Mondale received calls from many supporters and leaders. He was alert and able to have conversations, Tunheim said, including what a White House official described as a final call over the weekend with Biden, who was close to Mondale.

Born to a Methodist minister and music teacher in southern Minnesota in 1928, the former Democratic vice president was a steadfast supporter of social justice. By the time he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, he was deeply involved in the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party -- Minnesota's wing of the Democratic Party.

He served as the state's attorney general starting in 1960 and later was named to the US Senate to fill the seat left vacant by Hubert Humphrey, who was elected Lyndon Johnson's vice president. Mondale represented Minnesota in the Senate from 1964 until 1976, when he signed on as Carter's running mate.

Carter remembered Mondale in a statement Monday as a "dear friend" and "the best vice president in our country's history."

Mondale had faced a few significant health issues in recent years. In 2014, he underwent successful heart surgery in his home state of Minnesota, and the following year, he was admitted to the hospital with influenza.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Joan Mondale, who died in 2014, and daughter, Eleanor, in 2011.