Family members say the 82-year-old Specter died Sunday of complications from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
His public service will be held at Har Zion Temple in Penn Valley. Specter’s longtime Senate colleague, Vice President Joe Biden, plans to attend.
Specter spent 30 years as a senator. His long political career thrust him to the center of many pivotal events in modern American history. He promoted the single-bullet theory in the death of President John F. Kennedy, questioned Anita Hill about sexual harassment claims she raised against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and worked to advance Mideast peace and stem-cell research.
He switched from Republican to Democrat late in his career before losing in the 2010 primary.
President Barack Obama has ordered flags to be flown at half-staff at the White House and other public buildings in honor of the former senator.