Newark Mayor Cory Booker has canceled his last Senate campaign event of the day in the wake of his father’s death.

The Booker campaign announced that Cary Booker, 76, died today in Las Vegas. He suffered from Parkinson’s disease, and the campaign said he had recently suffered a stroke.

According to his website bio, Booker’s father was a North Carolina native and the son of a single mom. He and Booker’s mother worked for IBM. After Booker was born in Washington, D.C., the family relocated to Bergen County, New Jersey.

Booker was scheduled to attend a rally with Monmouth County Democrats in Red Bank at 5 p.m. He is in the final week of the special election campaign to replace the late Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg.

Booker faces Republican Steve Lonegan in the Oct. 16 special. He has been favored by double digits in every public poll, and the race is rated Safe Democrat by Rothenberg Political Report/Roll Call.