Powerful Alabama teacher lobbyist and former gubernatorial candidate Paul Hubbert has died. He was 78.
A spokeswoman for the Alabama Education Association said Hubbert died Tuesday afternoon at a Montgomery hospital. Spokeswoman Amy Marlowe said he was hospitalized Oct. 6 after a fall and died from complications.
Hubbert served as leader of the AEA from 1969 until his retirement at the end of 2011 for health reasons. He took a low-key organization led by school administrators and turned it into a political kingmaker that could pump more than $9 million into elections in one year.
Hubbert told reporters at his retirement that he wanted to be remembered as someone who cared about education.
