Walter Mondale, who served as vice president under Jimmy Carter and was the Democratic nominee for president in 1984, died Monday in Minneapolis, a family spokesperson said. He was 93.

Nearing his death on Sunday, the elder statesman from Minnesota spoke by phone with President Biden and former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as Vice President Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Axios reported.

In a goodbye email obtained by the website, Mondale told 320 staffers who worked for him over his four decade-long political career how much they meant to him and said he knew they would “keep up the good fight.”

He was the oldest-living vice president after the death of George H. W. Bush in 2018.

Known as Fritz to family, friends and voters alike, Mondale was a Minnesota attorney general and senator before serving under Carter from 1977 to 1981.

In a statement Monday, the former commander-in-chief mourned his “dear friend” and thanked him for an “exemplary life,” writing that he considered Mondale “the best vice president in our country’s history.”

“During our administration Fritz used his political skill and personal integrity to transform the presidency into a dynamic, policy-driven force that had never been seen before and still exists today,” Carter said.

“He was an invaluable partner and an able servant to the people of Minnesota.”

Mondale’s own bid for the White House in 1984 ended in a historic landslide loss to the popular Republican Ronald Reagan. His crushing 525-13 electoral college defeat came after he bluntly told voters to expect a tax increase if he won.

He ran a liberal campaign — and was the first major-party presidential nominee to put a woman on the ticket, with his selection of Rep. Geraldine Ferraro of New York.

“I did my best,” Mondale said the day after the election, as he blamed only himself. 

Born the son of a Methodist minister and music teacher on Jan. 5, 1928 in Ceylon, Minnesota,Walter Frederick Mondale entered politics in his 20s, working on his political mentor Hubert H. Humphrey’s successful Senate campaign in 1948.

After a two-year stint in the Army, Mondale graduated with a law degree from the University of Minnesota in 1956. He was elected attorney general in the fall of 1960 and re-elected in 1962.

Mondale started his career in Washington in 1964, when he was appointed to the Senate to replace Humphrey, who had resigned to become vice president.

In the Senate, Mondale advocated for social issues including education, housing, migrant workers and child nutrition — and was an outspoken supporter of the civil rights movement.

He was chosen for the VP slot on the 1976 Democratic ticket, which went on to unseat Gerald Ford.

As vice president, Mondale had a close relationship with Carter. He was the first vice president to occupy an office in the White House, rather than in a building across the street.

Following his years in the White House, Mondale served as Clinton’s ambassador to Japan from 1993-96.

Then in 2002, Democrats looked to Mondale when Minnesota Sen. Paul Wellstone was killed in a plane crash less than two weeks before Election Day.

He agreed to stand in for Wellstone, but lost, despite early polls showing him in the lead over the Republican candidate, Norm Coleman.

It was his first loss in his home state — where he’d been proud of having a perfect record.

“One of the things I’m most proud of,” he said in 1987, “is that not once in my public career did I ever lose an election in Minnesota.”

Years after the 2002 defeat, Mondale came back to the Senate to stand beside Democrat Al Franken in 2009 when he was sworn in to replace Coleman.

Throughout his life, Mondale never abandoned his liberal principles.

“I think that the country more than ever needs progressive values,” he said in 1989.

With Wires