Mourners are gathering in Mississippi to remember former U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran.

Visitation is taking place Sunday at the University of Mississippi law school in Oxford. Cochran earned a bachelor’s degree in 1959 and a law degree in 1965 from Ole Miss.

Two funeral services are scheduled in Jackson — Monday at the Mississippi Capitol and Tuesday at a church.

Cochran was 81 when he died Thursday in a veterans’ nursing home in Oxford.

As chairman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, the Republican directed billions of dollars to Mississippi for universities, agriculture, military installations and disaster recovery.

Cochran was elected to the U.S. House in 1972 and the Senate in 1978, retiring amid health concerns in April 2018. He was the 10th longest-serving senator in U.S. history.