Former US Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming dies aged 77 three days after suffering a broken neck in bicycle accident

Recently retired US Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming has died aged 77  just days after suffering major injuries in a bicycle accident.  

Enzi died peacefully Monday surrounded by family and friends, his former spokesman Max D'Onofrio said.

The former congressman was admitted to UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado, with a broken neck and ribs after a bicycle accident near Gillette, Wyoming, on Friday, according a statement posted on his Twitter account Monday. 

Recently retired US Senator Mike Enzi of Wyoming has died days after a bike accident 

A statement posted to his Twitter account Tuesday asks for 'privacy and continued prayers'

Enzi was stabilized before being flown to the hospital. 

He remained unconscious and was unable to recover from his injuries, D'Onofrio said.

Enzi crashed near his home about 8.30pm Friday, Daly said, around the time Gillette police received a report of a man lying unresponsive in a road near a bike. 

Enzi, third from the right, was part of the bipartisan Gang of Six focused on healthcare reform in 2009. He told a Wyoming town hall that his goal was to prevent 'national health care'

Enzi, left, meets with senators in Washington to discuss health reform in November 2008

Police have seen no indication that anybody else was nearby or involved in the accident, Lt. Brent Wasson told the newspaper.

Enzi, a Republican, retired in January after four terms as senator. 

He was first elected to a six-year term in 1996 after a close primary. He represented Wyoming, the country's least populated state with 578,759 residents.

Often ranked as one of the most conservative members of Congress, he won re-elections handily in 2002, 2008 and 2014 with more than 70 percent of the vote each time.

His '80-20 rule' called on colleagues to focus on the 80 percent of an issue where legislators tended to agree and discard the 20 percent where they didn't.

'Nothing gets done when we're just telling each other how wrong we are,' Enzi said in his farewell address to the Senate in 2020. 

'Just ask yourself: Has anyone ever really changed your opinion by getting in your face and yelling at you or saying to you how wrong you are? Usually that doesn't change hearts or minds.'

Enzi and his wife, Diana, visit a children's playground in Tangalle, Sri Lanka in April 2006 after the US agreed to help restore 100 playgrounds affected by the deadly 2004 tsunami

Enzi was ranked favorably by the National Rifle Association and a group with strong stances against illegal immigration. 

He opposed abortion and voted against President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, though he became a member of the bipartisan Gang of Six that focused on negotiating health care reform in 2009.

'It's not where I get them to compromise, it's what I get them to leave out,' Enzi said during a town hall in Wyoming at the time. 

'If I hadn't been involved in this process as long as I have and to the depth as I have, you would already have national health care.' 

He supported the Iraq War at first, later voting against funding that increased domestic spending, and was one of 22 senators who asked then-President Donald Trump to leave the climate change Paris Agreement, which Trump withdrew the US from in 2017.

Enzi, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, makes an opening statement on the 2020 budget resolution in Washington in March 2019

His more recent accomplishments included advancing legislation to enable sales taxes to be collected on internet sales crossing state lines. He played a major role in reforming the No Child Left Behind law that set performance standards for elementary, middle and high school students. 

He fought for Wyoming as the top coal-mining state to receive payments through the federal Abandoned Mine Land program, which taxes coal operations to help reclaim abandoned mining properties. 

Enzi was born Feb. 1, 1944, in Bremerton, Washington. His family moved to Thermopolis soon after.

He graduated from Sheridan High School in 1962 and from George Washington University with a degree in accounting in 1966. He received a master's in retail marketing from the University of Denver in 1968.

His political career began in the coal mining town of Gillette, where he moved after marrying Diana Buckley in 1969 to expand his father's shoe business, NZ Shoes.

He opened more stores in Sheridan and Miles City, Montana, before being elected mayor of Gillette in 1974 after an 'impromptu decision to run.'

From 1985 to 1997, Enzi worked for Dunbar Well Service in Gillette, where he was an accounting manager, computer programmer and safety trainer. 

He served in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1987 to 1991 and in the Wyoming Senate from 1991 to 1997 before departing for Washington.

Cynthia Lummis, a Republican former congresswoman and state treasurer, was elected in November to succeed Enzi in the Senate.

His family expressed appreciation for prayers and support they've received but asked for privacy, D'Onofrio said. The family is planning 'a celebration of a life well-lived,' he said in a statement, and plans to share details later.

Enzi is survived by his wife; two daughters, Amy and Emily; a son, Brad; and several grandchildren.