Lloyd Cutler, the lawyer whose abilities, discretion and charm made him the quintessential Washington insider for more than half a century, died at the weekend at the age of 87 from complications from a broken hip.

A lifelong Democrat, he was drafted into troubleshooting services by presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, when they ran into difficulties over the Iranian hostage crisis and Whitewater respectively. But he crossed party lines when asked, Ronald Reagan and the current president both appointing him to high-level commissions.