Wichita ? Former state Rep. Mike Farmer has died of leukemia. He was 59.

Farmer, was appointed to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1993 and elected in 1994 and 1996, died Wednesday.

A former systems analyst at Boeing, Farmer resigned from the Legislature in 2000 to become executive director of the Kansas Catholic Conference, working with the state’s four bishops on policy issues.

“Mike Farmer was an individual who lived his religion,” said Rep. Brenda Landwehr of Wichita, a fellow Republican. “Mike was quite the statesman and had an uncanny ability for building consensus and building bridges.”

Although disappointed Farmer left the Legislature, Landwehr said she remembered thinking “Mike’s made for that job” when he left to lead the Kansas Catholic Conference.

“He made legislators look at things with a different view, and I think he made the Catholic bishops look at things in a different view,” she said.

During the 1980s, Farmer and his wife, Jean, became increasingly involved in anti-abortion activities in Wichita. Farmer was president of Life Inc. and later president of Kansans for Life.

Kansans for Life state president Alan Hansen described Farmer as “always happy, even-tempered and a wise leader. Mike worked hard to gain a consensus in making all decisions, and he always showed integrity in all he did.”

Doctors diagnosed Farmer with acute leukemia in January, and he had been receiving care at a Houston hospital.

Farmer is survived by four children: Christopher, of South Korea; Stephanie Springer of Wichita; Sister Mary Ruth Farmer of Wahpeton, N.D.; and Sarah Beying of Garden Plain. He also is survived by his mother, Mary Ann Farmer of Wichita, and four grandchildren.