Former Rep. Richard Poff (R-Va.), who was considered for a seat on the Supreme Court by President Richard Nixon, died Tuesday at age 87, according to a statement from the Virginia governor’s office.

Poff joined the House in 1953 at age 29, after flying 35 successful missions over Europe as a bomber pilot in World War II and earning a law degree from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

He resigned from the House in 1972 to become a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia. Nixon had considered Poff for the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971, but Poff declined.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) announced Poff’s death in a statement Tuesday, saying the Republican had “served his Commonwealth and country through times of both war and peace.”