Former North Carolina Insurance Chief Long Suffers Serious Stroke

Former North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Jim Long was in intensive care Friday at a Raleigh hospital after suffering a serious stroke, hospital officials said.

Rex Hospital spokeswoman Melody Hunter-Pillion said Friday that Long remained hospitalized after collapsing last Wednesday afternoon outside a lawmaker’s office at the Legislative Office Building. Current commissioner Wayne Goodwin said then that Long could communicate as he was being treated by emergency crews.

Hunter-Pillion didn’t immediately return a message seeking details of Long’s condition.

Long, 68, retired before last year’s election after serving as commissioner for 23 years. He was the longest serving member of the Council of State, a powerful panel of 10 statewide elected officials.

“We are tremendously moved by the support our family feels from so many,” Long’s wife, Peg O’Connell, said in a statement released by the hospital Friday. She also thanked everyone for respecting the family’s privacy.

On Wednesday, Long had met former staff before traveling to attend the Legislative meeting. He was scheduled to attend the final meeting of a legislative committee studying how to be better prepared to pay for claims after a big hurricane. He collapsed outside the office of Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland on the sixth floor of the Legislative Office Building, Goodwin said.