Robert Strauss, a co-founder of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, died Wednesday at age 95, a firm spokesman confirmed.

Strauss, along with Richard Gump, started the firm in Texas in 1945. He later moved to Washington—planting the firm’s D.C. roots—where he served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee in the 1970s, and as a member of President Jimmy Carter’s cabinet.