Washington (CNN) -- West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, the self-educated son of a coal miner who became the longest-serving member of Congress, died early Monday at age 92, the senator's office said. Byrd, a nine-term Democrat, was known as a master of the chamber's often-arcane rules and as the self-proclaimed "champion of the Constitution," a jealous guardian of congressional power. His speeches were laced with references to poetry and the Greek and Roman classics, often punctuated by the brandishing of his pocket copy of the national charter. He was also known as the "King of Pork," using top positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee to steer federal spending to his home state -- one of the nation's poorest.
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NEW: Byrd: "When I am dead ... they will find West Virginia written on my heart"
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Byrd was a nine-term Democrat
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Known as the "King of Pork" for steering federal funding to his home state
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Said his greatest mistake was his 14-hour filibuster of 1964 Civil Rights Act
He was one of 23 senators to oppose the authorization, warning that @placeholder was abdicating its constitutional power to declare war by giving the president what amounted to a blank check.