Doug Sullivan, who served one term as mayor of Brookhaven and who had been an aide to U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran since 2001, died Wednesday from a heart attack he suffered on his way to work, said Lincoln County Coroner Clay McMorris.

McMorris said Sullivan was able to get his van off the road. He was taken to King’s Daughters Medical Center, where he later died. Sullivan was 69.

Sullivan was mayor of Brookhaven from 1993-1997. Sullivan was hired by Cochran in March 2001 to be the senator’s state office director in Jackson.

“I’m deeply saddened by the death of Doug Sullivan. He was a good friend and an important member of my staff,” Cochran, R-Miss., said in a statement Wednesday. “He had a strong sense of duty and worked hard to see that our needs in Mississippi were addressed by the federal government.”

Sullivan was unsuccessful candidate for Congress in 1998 in what was then southwest Mississippi’s 4th District. He also coached football at Brookhaven High School in the 1970s.

“He was one of the kindest, dearest men I’ve ever known,” said the current Brookhaven mayor, Bob Massengill. “He loved this community and he loved doing whatever he could to help this community.”

Sullivan is survived by his wife, Karen, and four children.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Wednesday.