Former Senator Richard Lugar dies at 87

INDIANAPOLIS, Inn. -- Former Indiana GOP Sen. Richard Lugar died at age 87 early Sunday morning, the Lugar Center in Washington announced.

Lugar died from complications of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a neurological disorder.

"His loving wife Char, his four sons Mark, Bob, John, and David and their families were with him throughout his short illness in the hospital," the center's announcement read.

Lugar was a longtime Republican senator from 1977 to 2013. He was unseated in a 2012 primary and went on to helm the Lugar Center, whose work focuses in part on nonproliferation.

Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb is directing flags across the state to be flown at half-staff to honor Sen. Lugar.

Flags should be flown at half-staff from now until sunset on the day of his funeral, which has not yet been announced.