CHAPEL HILL - Vincent Anania Sr., the father-in-law of onetime Democratic presidential contender and former Sen. John Edwards, died Saturday at the age of 87.

Anania died in Chapel Hill of heart failure, the senator's wife, Elizabeth Edwards, said in a statement.

Anania, a native of Marianna, Pa., was the first in his family to be born in the United States, Elizabeth Edwards said. He was raised in Brownsville, Pa., and attended the University of Pittsburgh. He later attended the U.S. Naval Academy, where he played football and was selected as an All-American in lacrosse, she said.

After graduating in 1944, Anania served on the USS Quincy, which took President Franklin D. Roosevelt to meet British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, in which the three leaders hashed out plans for post-World War II Germany.

Anania also served in Korea, where he was awarded the Bronze Star, and in Vietnam. In 1958, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for piloting an aircraft that carried 13 others to safety after it had been attacked by two MiG jet fighters during a surveillance mission off North Korea.

He retired from the military after serving NATO in Italy and moved to Chapel Hill, where he suffered a stroke in 1990.

Anania served as commanding officer of the NROTC at UNC-Chapel Hill and was also an assistant lacrosse coach. A lacrosse scholarship is named in his honor.

In addition to Elizabeth Edwards and the senator, survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Thweatt Anania; children Vincent Anania Jr. and Nancy Thweatt Anania; seven grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and two sisters.

Anania will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Elizabeth Edwards said.