Carter, who has rarely used his full name — James Earl Carter Jr, was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, Georgia. Gerald Ford, the Michigan native who was the 38th president after succeeding Richard Nixon, who had resigned the post, died Dec. 26, 2006. At the time of his death he was the longest-living president at age 93.

Jimmy Carter was not your stereotypical politician. He was a deeply religious man and more of a moral leader than a political one. I had the good fortune to interview him on three occasions and to join him at the White House to cover the final days of negotiations to get

A master fly-fisherman, author and conservationist, he guided the famous, including a former president, and the not-so-famous in the hunt for rainbow trout.