Pete Wheeler, who served as commissioner of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service for more than six decades, has died at age 92.

The state agency's spokesman, Jon Suggs, said Wheeler died early Tuesday at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. Suggs said Wheeler had been on medical leave since late summer, but still played a daily role in running the department.

Wheeler went to work for the agency in 1949 and became its commissioner in 1954. He was Georgia's longest-serving agency head and worked under a dozen governors, from Herman Talmadge to Nathan Deal.

In a 2006 interview with UGA's Russell Library, Wheeler said his department was the first in state government to do away with segregation policies, integrating the Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville. "We were the first state agency, even before the University of Georgia. We ended segregation in our department. We were the first one and I am very proud of that."

Speaking about Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, Wheeler said "I commend these young men and women who are volunteering to go into service. We're happy to serve them, as we were their fathers before them and their grandfathers before them and make sure they get all the benefits they're entitled to. We don't show any distinction from one war to another war."

Wheeler served as an Army infantry instructor during World War II and later joined the National Guard, rising to the rank of brigadier general.

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson praised Wheeler for his "immeasurable contribution" to more than 750,000 Georgia veterans.

Read more about Pete Wheeler's accomplishments in his official obituary from the Department of Veterans Service.

Tags: Pete Wheeler, Georgia Department Of Veterans Service, Bradley George