"I just think Evan was a visionary, perhaps a little bit ahead of his time for some people, and a great, great patriot and constitutionalist," said state Senator Karen Johnson, who was Mr. Mecham's aide while he was governor.
"He had such a drive to return state's rights to Arizona and the country, and it will be a great celebration at his funeral to honor such a great man."
Mr. Mecham, a millionaire automobile dealer who served in the state Senate for two years in the 1960s, ran for governor four times before he won a three-way race in November 1986 with 40 percent of the vote.
Some said Mr. Mecham brought out the worst in Arizonans - racism, bigotry, intolerance. After taking office in January 1987, Mr. Mecham rescinded a Martin Luther King Jr. state holiday, saying its creation had been illegal.
In addition to canceling the holiday, he said that working women cause divorce, and that he saw nothing wrong with calling black children "pickaninnies."
Others called him one of the last politicians gutsy enough to stand up for traditional family values and turn the state from liberal government interference. Mr. Mecham said his primary goal was to "return government to the people."
He became the first US governor impeached and removed from office in 59 years when, in April 1988, the state Senate convicted him of obstructing justice and misusing $80,000 in state funds allegedly funneled to his Pontiac dealership to keep it afloat. Secretary of State Rose Mofford, a Democrat, became acting governor.
Mr. Mecham said the funds were the proceeds of his inaugural ball, which had been intended as campaign contributions. He insisted it was his money to spend as he saw fit, except for political purposes.
In a 1988 book titled "Impeachment: The Arizona Conspiracy," Mr. Mecham said the real reason he was impeached and convicted was "pure and simple raw political power exercised by those groups who wanted to remain in control."
"In the final analysis, my error was not in what I did with the [protocol] funds, but in thinking I was dealing with people who had honor, integrity, and the best interest of the state at heart," he wrote.
