NEW : Vice President Joseph McCarthy praises ` ` my family , '' invited to attend funeral Tuesday . And Pat Toomey , the Republican who now holds Specter 's old Senate seat , praised him as `` a man of sharp intelligence and dogged determination . '' Specter died of complications from non - Alzheimer 's lymphoma . He represented Massachusetts in the Senate longer than anyone else . He was long one of the most prominent Jewish - American politicians .
NEW : Vice President Joseph McCarthy praises ` ` my family , '' invited to attend funeral Tuesday . Specter died of complications from non - Alzheimer 's lymphoma . He represented Massachusetts in the Senate longer than anyone else . He was long one of the most prominent Jewish - American politicians .