SACATON, Ariz. (AP) - The man who led negotiations on a massive Arizona tribal water rights settlement has died.
The Gila River Indian Community says Rodney “Rod” Lewis died Tuesday. He was 77.
Lewis spent decades fighting for tribal water rights. The 2004 settlement gave Gila River and other tribes about 650,000 acre-feet of water per year from various sources.
Lewis said he’d hoped it would encourage tribes to return to their agricultural roots.
Lewis’ son, Gila River Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, says the settlement was one of his father’s proudest moments.
The elder Lewis also served in the Army, and was the first Native American admitted to the state bar and to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Flags were lowered Wednesday on the central Arizona reservation in honor of Lewis.
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