WASHINGTON — Theodore B. Olson, the conservative attorney who helped win the right to gay marriage in California, died Wednesday at age 84. Olson was a good-spirited and gracious advocate who won landmark conservative rulings from the Supreme Court.

Former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, who served two Republican presidents as one of the country’s best known conservative lawyers and successfully argued on behalf of same-sex marriage, has died

Even in a town full of lawyers, Ted’s career as a litigator was particularly prolific,” said Mitch McConnell, the longtime Senate Republican leader.