Fred Baron, the wealthy trial lawyer whose family was assisted by Bill Clinton and Lance Armstrong in an effort to get access to the drug Tysabri, died Thursday, the Associated Press reports.

Baron, who made a fortune in asbestos litigation and became a big donor to the Democratic party, had multiple myeloma. Baron was the top fundraiser for Sen. John Edwards’s presidential run, and the Texas lawyer was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when it emerged that he provided financial support to a woman who had an affair with Edwards.

Baron’s doctors at the Mayo Clinic thought Tysabri, a drug approved for multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease, might help. But Biogen Idec, which co-markets the drug with Elan under strict safety regulations, was reluctant to provide the drug.

Because of the safety program, put in place because of serious side-effects associated with Tysabri, doctors can’t prescribe the drug off-label. But after Clinton and Armstrong, among others, made appeals on the family’s behalf, doctors were granted permission to use the medicine.

The treatment, which amounted to a last-ditch effort, wasn’t enough to save Baron’s life. He was 61.