AUSTIN (AP) - Flags will fly at half-staff on state properties through Friday to honor state Sen. Mario Gallegos Jr.

Gov. Rick Perry ordered the flags lowered after the long-serving Texas lawmaker and retired Houston firefighter died Tuesday from liver disease. Gallegos was 62.

Perry also ordered the flags lowered on the day Gallegos is buried. He also ordered flags lowered in Houston, Harris County and the Houston lawmaker’s Senate District 6 continuously until the day Gallegos is buried.

The staunch Democrat had represented Senate District 6 in Harris County since 1995, having served in the Texas House the previous four years. He developed a reputation for toughness in 2007 when he showed up in the Senate chamber shortly after a liver transplant to vote against a photo ID requirement to vote.

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