JACKSON — The Mississippi Department of Transportation says that northern district commissioner Bill Minor has died. He was 68.

MDOT spokeswoman Carrie Adams says Minor was pronounced dead at 9:15 this morning at Biloxi Regional Medical Center. He had been attending a national transportation conference in Biloxi.

Adams says Minor’s body was being taken to his hometown of Holly Springs, and funeral arrangements were pending.

The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo reported that Minor died of an apparent heart attack.

Minor was first elected as one of three transportation commissioners in November 2003. Before that, he served 20 years in the Mississippi Senate, representing Marshall, Benton and DeSoto counties.

Minor was among the commissioners who voted to go along with a commission decision to four-lane historic Church Street in Port Gibson as part of U.S. 61 as part of a legislative directive to continue the highway from the Tennessee line to Louisiana.

Opponents say sending the heavier traffic through the street will jeopardize the architectural integrity of the homes and churches along the street.