Former Florida senator and governor, Bob Graham, dead at 87
Florida’s longtime US senator and former governor Bob Graham has died, his family announced Tuesday. He was 87.
“We are deeply saddened to report the passing of a visionary leader, dedicated public servant, and even more importantly, a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather: Bob Graham,” the Graham family said in a statement posted on X by his daughter Gwen Graham.
“As a legislator, Bob Graham devoted his life to the betterment of the world around him,” they added.
Graham, a Democrat, was a three-term senator for the Sunshine State and Florida’s 38th governor.
His five decades in politics began in 1966, after the University of Florida and Harvard Law School graduate successfully ran for the Florida House of Representatives, followed by a stint in the state Senate.
Graham then served in the Governor’s Mansion for two terms, from 1979 to 1987, after which his 18-year stretch in the US Senate commenced.
Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of 9/11 and in the lead up to the Iraq War.
In 2003, the Coral Gables, Fla., native launched an unsuccessful bid for the White House, voicing his opposition to then-President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq.
He underwent open-heart surgery before hitting the campaign trail and withdrew from the race before the Democratic primaries.
He did not seek re-election to the Senate in 2004, allowing Republicans to flip the seat upon the election of Mel Martinez.
“Bob Graham exemplified what it meant to be a servant of the people,” Nikki Fried, the chairwoman of the Florida Democratic Party, wrote on X.
“He gave everything he had to the people of our great state and boy did he love our state with all of his heart and all of his being,” she added, noting that Graham “was the first political name I learned.”
The Florida Republican Party praised Graham as “a great statesman and public servant that cared deeply for the state of Florida.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expressed her sympathies for the Graham family and called the former senator “a patriotic American and a great Member of the United States Senate.”
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said he was “heartbroken” when he learned of Graham’s passing.
“Bob Graham was a good man and a great Floridian who dedicated his life to our state,” Scott wrote on X. “His legacy will live forever, not because of any title he held, but for what he did with those opportunities to improve Florida and the lives of families in the Sunshine State.”
Graham was famous for the more than 400 “workdays” he completed throughout his political career, where he would take on 8-hour shifts for various jobs held by constituents.
He moonlighted as a housewife, boxing ring announcer, flight attendant, Christmas gift wrapper and arson investigator, among several other gigs, as part of his “workday” tradition.
The Graham family noted that “his very first workday” was teaching citizenship at a Miami high school, which ignited a “lifelong passion for helping Americans become effective citizens.”
“Bob Graham would tell people his favorite title was not Governor or Senator. It was the name his grandchildren gave him: Doodle,” the family said. “‘When I’m really good, they call me Super Doodle,’ he liked to say.”
“As his family, we will never forget his love for us, the love he had for Florida, the United States, and the world, and the love so many people showed him. We thank God for the gift of his life.”
