Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan died Friday morning at 91, more than two decades after leaving office for the last time and 12 years after his release from federal prison.

Former Illinois Gov. George Ryan has died at age 91. Kankakee County Coroner Robert Gessner, a family friend, said Ryan died Friday afternoon at his home, where he was receiving hospice care.

George Ryan, the former Republican governor of Illinois, died at the age of 91, leaving behind a legacy as a champion of clemency and a critic of the death penalty, who commuted the sentences of all 167 people on Illinois' death row and pardoned four outright.