SAGINAW, Mich. (AP Modified) - Robert G. Heft, who is credited with designing and sewing America's first 50-star flag, has died. He was 67.
Wakeman Funeral Home says Heft died Saturday at a hospital in Saginaw. Family members tell NBC 25 he died after being hospitalized with trouble breathing.
Heft, who lived in the Saginaw area, made the flag in 1958 as part of a high school history project in Lancaster, Ohio. He spent more than 12 hours sewing the design at his mother's Singer sewing machine.
The flag was chosen by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to replace the 48-star flag.
Born in Saginaw, Heft left Michigan after his parents separated when he was about a year old. He returned after retiring from Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio, where he was a professor.
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