Congressman Murtha “passed away peacefully this afternoon. … At his bedside was his family,” a statement from Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey said. Murtha had recently undergone gall bladder surgery and was hospitalized Feb. 2 after complications with his recovery. On Feb. 6 – two days before his death — Murtha passed the mark as Pennsylvania’s longest serving member of Congress, representing the 12th district since 1974.