Dennis Hastert, the Illinois Republican who led the U.S. House from 1999 to 2007 and later served time in federal prison, died Saturday at his home while receiving hospice care. He was 84. Kendall County Coroner Jacquie Purcell said Monday that Hastert died of natural causes. He spent most of his life in the Chicago suburbs, including the Yorkville area west of Chicago. He is survived by his wife, Jean, and two adult sons. Hastert rose to the speakership after Republicans lost seats in the 1998 midterm elections. He succeeded Newt Gingrich, whose support had weakened amid ethics violations and the party’s election losses. Hastert had built a reputation as a congenial, low-profile lawmaker and had worked in House leadership after Republicans took control of the chamber in 1995. As speaker, he helped advance President George W. Bush’s agenda, including major tax cuts and a Medicare prescription drug benefit expansion. He left the post after Democrats took control of the House in 2007 and resigned his congressional seat later that year. His public standing collapsed in 2015, when federal prosecutors accused him of structuring bank withdrawals to conceal payments to a person identified in court records as Individual A. Hastert ultimately pleaded guilty to evading banking laws. He had paid more than $1.7 million of the $3.5 million he had promised, sometimes withdrawing cash in $100,000 increments. Court filings later described the underlying misconduct as sexual abuse of teenage boys on the wrestling team Hastert coached in Yorkville. Prosecutors said at least four former team members were abused between 1965 and 1981. One said Hastert abused him when he was 14; other accounts described inappropriate touching in a locker room and sexual acts. Hastert’s guilty plea was to the banking offense, not a sex-crime charge. At his 2016 sentencing, Hastert received 15 months in prison. The judge called him a “serial child molester,” while a former wrestler told the court about the lasting burden of keeping the abuse secret. Hastert said he was “deeply ashamed” and acknowledged mistreating some athletes, but did not directly address sexual abuse in his statement. Before entering politics, Hastert was a history teacher and wrestling coach. His team won a state championship, and he was named national coach of the year in 1976. He earned an economics degree from Wheaton College in 1964 and a master’s degree in education from Northern Illinois University in 1967. Hastert’s political ascent began after he lost a 1980 state legislative primary and was selected to replace the ill incumbent on the November ballot. He won the seat, then entered Congress in 1986. His career also drew scrutiny over a series of land transactions that coincided with a highway earmark he secured, which increased the value of property he had bought in his district. The fallout from his conviction extended beyond Washington. Wheaton College removed Hastert’s name from its public policy center after his indictment, and his portrait was taken down from a hallway outside the House chamber.