The family of former U.S. senator and presidential candidate George McGovern says he has been placed into hospice care near his home in the state of South Dakota.

McGovern's daughter told the Associated Press her 90-year-old father is “coming to the end of his life.” Hospice care is a specialized living facility for terminally ill patients.

The veteran Democratic lawmaker served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1957 to 1961, then served 18 years in the U.S. Senate beginning in 1963. He was his party's presidential nominee in 1972, but lost to incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon in a landslide.

McGovern has been in ill health in recent years. He was hospitalized last October for exhaustion after a lecture tour, then was hospitalized two months later after he hit his head in a fall.

In April of this year, McGovern was hospitalized for tests after suffering fainting spells.