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Former Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a doctor-turned-lawmaker who annoyed Republican leadership in both chambers of Congress with his adherence to fiscal conservatism and opposition to politicians' pet spending projects, has died at 72.

Coburn's death was announced on Twitter by former Republican Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, a House colleague in the class of 1994, whose rise to power on promises to slash federal spending and enact socially conservative policies ended Democrats' 40-year majority in the chamber. Coburn died Friday due to complications with cancer, according to the Oklahoman .

Coburn stood out in the House during his 1995-2001 tenure for his adherence to fiscal conservatism even while the Republican majority in which he served, led by House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, passed a series of big-spending budget bills. Coburn, in a 2005 C-SPAN interview, said his greatest regret in government was a House vote to reopen the federal government in early 1996 as part of a budget agreement with Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Like many Republican congressional candidates in 1994, Coburn ran on a term-limits pledge. But he actually meant it, stepping down after six years to return to the practice of medicine as an obstetrician.

Coburn joined the political fray again in 2004, running for an open Senate seat and beating an establishment-favored rival in the Republican primary. In the general election, he faced negative headlines over charges that 14 years earlier, he had sterilized a young woman without her permission. But the matter didn't stick politically, and Coburn won easily.

During an orientation for freshmen senators, Coburn struck up an unlikely friendship with an incoming Democratic colleague, Barack Obama of Illinois. The pair bonded over their distaste for some of the sillier political rituals needed to win high office. Coburn told reporters in 2004 that he had "a wonderful time with Obama during the orientation.

"I think I can work with him, Coburn said then.

Once in office, despite being ideological opposites, Coburn and Obama worked together when they could. They co-sponsored bills to ensure strict oversight of government aid for Hurricane Katrina victims and to require all government grants and contracts to be posted on the internet in a database. After Obama won the presidency in 2008, they maintained an open line of communication, frequently talking by phone.

And as he had in the House, Coburn proved a thorn in the side of Senate Republican leaders. In October 2005, he tried to block $453 million for two Alaska bridges that had been tucked into a recent highway spending bill, pushed by then-Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican from the state who had served in the chamber since December 1968. Coburn wanted to redirect the money to the Interstate 10 bridge across Lake Pontchartrain, a major thoroughfare that was severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina less than two months earlier.

The gambit failed by a wide margin but set the tone for Coburn's fiscally conservative approach during his 10-year Senate career.

Coburn left the Senate on Jan. 3, 2015, after a recurrence of prostate cancer, with nearly two years left in his term.

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Ex-Sen. Tom Coburn, who pressed Republicans to keep budget-cutting promises, dies at 72 - Washington Examiner