ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — Former Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, a former Navy secretary who was once married to Elizabeth Taylor, has died at 94, his longtime chief of staff said Wednesday.

Susan A. Magill said Warner died Tuesday of heart failure at home in Alexandria, Va., with his wife and daughter at his side.

“He was frail but had a lot of spirit until his last days,” Magill said.

Warner, a Republican, was elected to the Senate in 1978 and served five terms. He announced in 2007 that he would not run again in 2008.

A former secretary of the Navy, Warner was for a time was chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He had an independent streak that sometimes angered more conservative GOP leaders.

Warner was also the sixth of Taylor’s seven husbands. The two were married from 1976 to 1982.