Bob Graham, a former United States senator and two-term Democratic governor of Florida, died at the age of 87, his family confirmed Tuesday.
Graham served in elected service for nearly four decades, starting as a Florida state representative in 1966 and retiring from the United States Senate following his third term in 2005.
Graham “devoted his life to the betterment of the world around him,” according to a family statement posted on his daughter Gwen Graham’s X account.
“Memorials to his devotion can be found everywhere, including the Everglades and other natural treasures he worked to preserve…” the worldwide understanding he worked to develop through his work with the intelligence community, among many others.”
He was governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987, a period when the southern US state saw a massive influx of immigrants from Cuba and Haiti.
Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Graham chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee and oversaw a combined congressional investigation of US government failings leading up to the events.
He later fiercely opposed then-President George W. Bush’s plan to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein, claiming that resources would be diverted away from the battle against terrorism.
“It was with the deepest respect and sadness that I learned of the passing of Senator Bob Graham: a patriotic American and a great Member of the United States Senate,” stated former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Several years after leaving the Senate, former President Barack Obama appointed Graham to co-chair an investigation into the massive Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.