Bob Graham was widely remembered Wednesday as a political giant who was driven by a love for Florida and whose legacy resonates decades after he left the Governor’s mansion and the U.S. Senate.
Graham died Tuesday at age 87. His family announced his death in a social media by one of his daughters, Gwen Graham, a former Florida congresswoman.
Bob Graham connected with people not by whipping up their most base instincts, but by identifying with their concerns — and offering a vision and concrete solutions that helped transform Florida in the late 20th Century.
People who worked around and were influenced by him — a top aide, a legislative ally, a junior staffer, a close family friend and others — offered similar assessments, describing Graham as the kind of leader who would be virtually unrecognizable in today’s political world.
“He was really the greatest of all time,” said Broward Circuit Court Judge Ari Porth, who said Graham was “inspirational, someone I aspired to be like, a real mensch, a public servant unlike anyone I’ve ever met.”
Porth was fresh out of college in a junior-level staff job in Graham’s Capitol Hill office in 1991-1992. One thing that made the senator unique, Porth said, is that he “took a special interest in every person that he met.”
Shortly after finishing law school, Ron Book worked on Graham’s 1978 gubernatorial campaign, and then worked for him in the governor’s office. Book, now a lawyer-lobbyist, said Graham exemplified “integrity, honesty, decency, compassion.”
And Stephanie Toothaker, a Fort Lauderdale lawyer-lobbyist who worked for Graham years later in campaign and government roles and became close to the family, said the proof of “what an incredible person Bob was” is shown by the “outpouring of love and things that people have to say about him.”
Bipartisan
Graham was a centrist Democrat, and exemplified an era long gone in politics when people from both political parties came together for the common good. One measure: the accolades on Wednesday came from across the political spectrum.
Graham “never hesitated to work with Republicans. … He was never afraid to be bipartisan,” Book said.
Ken Jenne was first elected to the Florida Senate in 1978, the year Graham was elected governor. (Jenne earlier served as a Broward County commissioner and later as Broward sheriff.)
“He was kind to friend and foe alike. You knew when he was on the other side of an issue, but he was always the ultimate gentleman,” Jenne said. “There’s always partisan politics but what I remember is he loved the state of Florida and the people of the state of Florida. And I think he truly was a servant of the people. When he looked at Florida, I never thought of him thinking about the next election, but rather how to eliminate the next crisis.”
Graham sometimes left Tallahassee on weekends and flew home to South Florida on weekends, and Jenne said he would sometimes ride back and forth with the governor on a state plane.
“When he talked, there was the politics in the Legislature. We talked about getting legislation passed. But his concentration was always on why this was the best thing for Florida.”
Legacy
Graham became governor, succeeding Reubin Askew, during an era historians have called the golden age of Florida politics that saw the state transformed from a rural southern province to something far more modern.
“In any direction, his legacy pulses through Florida and anyone who calls it home,” U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Weston, the senior Democrat in the Florida congressional delegation, .
Even for those too young to know his name — Graham left public office in 2005 — “something that he did affects you every day,” Toothaker said.
Toothaker said Graham’s love for the environment, and policies that promoted the restoration of the Everglades, preserving the state’s manatees and its beaches, along with his commitments to public education and government transparency are all parts of his legacy.
The center named after him at the University of Florida will ensure his vision lives on through generations of students “who will never know him but are going to graduate from the Bob Graham Center,” Toothaker said.
Jenne said people can see Graham’s impact when they see parks and beaches and otherwise benefit from the state’s environment. At the same time, Jenne said, “he understood that growth was coming, but he also understood that it had to be sensible.”
Book cited the environment and improvements to the state’s university and community college systems.
He said several Broward leaders were essential to the long-term transportation projects that transformed the county — Interstate 595 and the Sawgrass Expressway — “these would never have happened without Bob Graham.”
Book said he was with Graham when the governor visited a neonatal intensive care unit at the University of Florida where they treated tiny premature babies, which preceded Graham’s efforts to add more such units in the state, a precursor to what’s in place today. “Today people live, children survive, because of that vision from way back in the day,” he said.
In one year as governor, Graham had to lead the state through multiple crises.
In 1980, 125,000 Cubans arrived in the U.S. in a little more than six months as part of the Mariel boatlift; race riots broke out in Liberty City and Overtown following an all-white jury’s acquittal of four white police officers related to their beating to death of Arthur McDuffie, a Black man, after a traffic stop; and 35 people were killed when Tampa Bay’s Sunshine Skyway Bridge collapsed after hit was hit by a freighter.
Graham was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1966; the state Senate in 1970; as governor in 1978, serving two terms; and the Senate in 1986, serving three terms.
In his role as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he was known for his efforts to unravel and publicize failures that contributed to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. He was an early critic of the Iraq war.
His candidacy for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination started slowly because he underwent heart surgery and he ultimately dropped out and opted against seeking reelection.
He gained national prominence as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks and as an early critic of the Iraq war.
Manatees
Graham was known for his long collaboration with the late singer Jimmy Buffett. Their common cause was saving manatees.
Early in his time as governor, Book said Graham attended a Buffett concert in Tallahassee. Book said that was noteworthy in and of itself. Graham didn’t care that Buffet was well-known for his fondness for marijuana.
The governor and the singer met backstage during intermission, and Graham told Buffett to call — as politicians routinely offer — if he ever needed help with anything. The call came the next day, Book said. Buffett was on the phone asking for help saving the state’s well-known sea creatures.
Graham established a state committee to save the manatees, Buffett returned to Tallahassee for the kickoff and a lifelong friendship began.
Graham later had a cameo in the Buffet for “Who’s the Blonde Stranger,” shot in Key West.
“What politician back then would have taken that risk?” Book said. “None. None. But Bob Graham didn’t worry about the risk.”
Connecting with people
Toothaker said Graham’s interest in people was his defining characteristic. Unlike politicians who have handlers to whisper who they’re about to meet or a significant bit of detail, Graham wanted to know about people and their lives.
“It’s something that you almost just can’t describe in words,” Toothaker said. “Getting him out of a room was one of the hardest things you did. He wanted to talk to every last busboy and write down their name and who their family is and where they are from. Someone who’s a busboy from an immigrant family that came from Haiti to have someone like Senator Graham take an interest in you and your family. How much of an impact that must have on everyday people.”
Toothaker said that stands in stark contrast to politicans who “look past people who they don’t think can raise them money or help them.”
He was known for his work days, the hundreds of tasks he performed over the course of his political career that had him work alongside everyday citizens in a range of jobs.
Cynics viewed Graham’s famous work days as a gimmick. “They weren’t,” Jenne said.
Graham’s family developed Miami Lakes, but it also had a major dairy operation, which meant a young Bob Graham got his hands dirty milking cows, building fences and shoveling manure.
“He could be very intellectual, but at the same time he could relate. I’ve seen him in Marianna (near the Georgia-Florida border) and I’ve seen him in LIttle Havana. And he just related to people. People liked him,” Jenne said.
He was widely known for his notebooks. Graham was meticulous at recording everything about whatever he did and whoever he met with small notebooks.
Porth said that demonstrated Graham’s keen interest in people, and that’s why he recorded what might seem to some like the most minor details but could be something important to an individual, including the birthday of someone’s family member, an anniversary or a pet’s name.
Accolades
Book said the U.S. Senate of today could use at least “a touch of what Bob Graham brought to the body. It doesn’t mean that elected officials of today don’t have character and integrity. It’s just that Bob Graham set a standard at a time in political history that’s just different today.”
Dave Aronberg, the Palm Beach County state attorney and a former state senator, said on social media that Graham was “a giant. As one of the greatest Floridians, he was a role model for me and countless others who aspired to elective office. His legacy of service will endure forever.”
Several leading Florida Republicans also issued strongly positive statements.
U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz–Balart, a Miami-Dade County Republican and dean of the Florida congressional delegation, called him the “esteemed” former senator and governor and cited his “profound dedication to the Sunshine State.”
U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, a former Republican governor, wrote that “Bob Graham was a good man and a great Floridian who dedicated his life to our state. 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.”
And U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said in a statement that “Bob Graham was a selfless public servant, whose legacy and impact will live on… Florida, and the nation, lost a very good man.”
Services
Daniel Robert Graham was born Nov. 9, 1936, in Coral Gables, where his father, Ernest “Cap” Graham, had moved from South Dakota.
Graham is survived by his wife Adele (Khoury), whom he married in 1959; their four daughters and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered U.S. and Florida flags at all state and local government buildings flown at half staff from sunrise to sunset until Graham’s burial.
Details for services and memorials have not been announced, but he is expected to lie in state at the Florida Capitol in Tallahassee with a celebration of life in Miami Lakes.
This report includes information from the Associated Press.
Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Post.news.
