JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former Florida Governor Bob Graham died Tuesday night at the age of 87. He was admired by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Graham was a representative in the Florida legislature, the governor from 1979 to 1897, a U.S. senator for almost 20 years, and threw his hat into the race for president.
Now a Jacksonville attorney, Chris Hand worked in Graham's congressional office. Hand said, "He was someone who liked to listen as much as he talked."
The two men also wrote two books together: "America, the Owner's Manual: You Can Fight City Hall" and "Win and America, the Owner's Manual: Making Government Work For You."
Graham carried out more than 400 of what he called “work days," in which he worked a full shift in different jobs around the state.
"He rolled up his sleeves, and was doing things like plumbing, tomato picking, being a teacher," Nevena Trajkov, Jacksonville University Political Science Professor, told First Coast News.
"And it’s hard to challenge someone as a political opponent who has garnered that trust from the public," Trajkov said. "And... that gave him a lot of political leverage."
Regarding those "work days," Hand said, "He’d come back full of energy and ideas. It shaped his approach to governing. Ultimately some of those ideas shaped legislation."
Henry Dean, now a St. Johns County commissioner, worked with Graham for 30 years. A chunk of the work involved land conservation at the state level. Dean said he and Graham worked together toward acquiring hundreds of thousands of acres of land in Florida for conservation purposes, including Big Talbot Island and the Guana River Reserve.
Dean remembers when he met with the Guana River landowners in 1984, and Graham told him, "Henry, don’t come back to Tallahassee without a contract."
Graham also started the "Save The Everglades" campaign while in office.
"When we’d have a major land acquisition and have a celebration for it, he’d be holding a shovel, and he’d wink at me and say, 'Henry, we’re doing the Lord’s work,'" Dean said.
"He was probably one of the best government leaders we've had in Florida, ever," Dean told First Coast News.
Regarding what Floridians and Americans can learn from Graham today, Hand said, "There is a different way to conduct politics and governing in this country." He added, "Graham was not someone interested in adversarial relationships. He was interested in building bridges."