State Rep. Otto Bean Dies

State Representative Otto Bean, Jr. (R-Holcomb) died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. Though receiving treatment for leukemia throughout the legislative session, Bean often showed up for work at the Capitol. Treatments left him looking gaunt and fragile. His courage in the face of death inspired other representatives, according to House Speaker Pro Tem Carl Bearden (R-St. Charles), who calls Bean a person everyone liked. Bean was in his second term as a state representative. He was a farmer and proud of his home district in southeast Missouri, often displaying a potted, cotton plant outside his Capitol office. Bean was 68. He is survived by his wife, Janet Stillman Bean, and his two sons.