Cellucci Remembered As 'Devoted Public Servant' And 'Friend'

BOSTON (CBS) -- Many of the state's current politicians are remembering former Gov. Paul Cellucci. 

Boston Mayor Tom Menino said Cellucci was one of the first people to reach out to him after he became mayor, and he did that over and over again.

House Speaker Bob DeLeo called the former governor a 'true gentleman in the true sense of the word' and described him as a good friend.

Gov. Deval Patrick says Massachusetts has lost a 'favored son and devoted public servant,' calling him a 'kind man and a friend.'

Former Gov. Bill Weld said Cellucci was simply 'one of the finest human beings he had ever met' and he added that 'we are all immensely impoverished by his loss.'

Cellucci will lie in state before a funeral in his home town of Hudson. An exact date for his services has yet to be announced.

Related: Obituary

Cellucci died Saturday at his home after a 5-year battle with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

He was 65.

Cellucci's body will lie in repose at the State House before a public funeral Mass and private burial.

The State House memorial is scheduled for Thursday. An invitation-only memorial service will be held in the House chamber at 12:30 p.m. A public viewing in the Hall of Flags will run from 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Michael Catholic Church in Hudson. His burial will be private.

The 69th governor of Massachusetts and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada announced in January 2011 that he had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Soon after that announcement, he joined UMass Medical School Chancellor Michael Collins, M.D., and Robert H. Brown Jr., M.D., a physician-researcher at the medical school, in launching the UMass ALS Champion Fund, which supports ALS research in Brown's laboratory.