Bob Graham, Florida’s two-term governor who later served in the U.S. Senate and was known for his work days across the state, died Tuesday at age 87, his family announced.

“As a legislator, Florida’s 38th governor and United States Senator, Bob Graham dedicated his life to the betterment of the world around him,” the family said in a statement Tuesday night. “Monuments to that devotion are everywhere: from the Everglades and other natural treasures he was determined to preserve, to the colleges and universities he defended with his commitment to higher education, to the global understanding he helped foster through his work with intelligence. community and much more.”

Graham was one of the most popular figures in Florida politics over the past half century. After representing part of Miami-Dade County in the state Senate, Graham was elected governor in 1978. In 1986, Graham defeated Republican Senator Paula Hawkins and served three terms in Washington. His tenure included chairing the Senate Intelligence Committee after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

But many Floridians knew Graham for his down-to-earth personality, which included work days in which he joined people at their jobs.

“While he valued his opportunities to represent others in public office, the jobs Bob Graham loved most were those he spent working alongside everyday Floridians,” his family said in Tuesday’s statement. “His more than 400 days of work, in occupations ranging from construction to agriculture to hospitality, created wonderful friendships across the state and forever changed his perspective on Florida and his approach to public service.”

Democratic consultant and lobbyist Steve Schale recalled Graham’s common touch in a post Tuesday night on social media.

“I have so many wonderful memories of Bob, but I loved being with him when he was with regular people,” Schale wrote. “Those days on the job really shaped the way he viewed his fellow Floridians. I never saw him belittle anyone, or look over anyone’s shoulder. He was, in every way, a good man.”

In Tuesday night’s statement, Graham’s family remembered him as their grandfather.

“Bob Graham told people that his favorite title was not governor or senator. It was the name his grandchildren gave him: Doodle. ‘When I’m really good, they call me Super Doodle,’ he liked to say,” the statement said. “For 87 years, Bob Graham was more than just really good. It was a rare collection of public achievements and personal traits that combined to make him unforgettable. 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 that so many people showed him. We thank God for the gift of his life.”

Graham, who did not run for a fourth Senate term in 2004, was from what now seems like a distant era in Florida politics. Along with figures such as the late Governor Reubin Askew and the late US Senator and Governor Lawton Chiles, Graham led during a period when Democrats controlled the state’s political levers.

That began to change in the 1990s, and Republicans now dominate state politics. Graham’s daughter, Gwen, served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives but lost in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2018.