A few months after declaring that he would not seek reelection in 2000, he died suddenly from congestive heart failure in October 24, 1999—just two days after his 77th birthday—at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He was survived by his wife Virginia Coates Chafee, a daughter, and four sons, including Lincoln Chafee, who was appointed to serve out the remainder of the elder Chafee's term and who then won a full term in his own right in the 2000 election.