TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A leader like Bob Graham would be a unicorn in the hyper-partisan politics of today.

The former Florida governor and U.S. senator wasn’t a slick, slogan-spouting politician. He didn’t have an us-against-them mentality. Sometimes, he even came across as more of a kind-hearted professor just trying to make the world a better place.

He connected with people on a very real level during his nearly five decades in politics, and he had immense respect for the nation’s political process and institutions. Graham died Tuesday at the age of 87.

In a state long politically divided and now dominated by Republicans, he earned support among Republicans and Democrats alike with a folksy charm that belied the fact that he was a millionaire Harvard-educated lawyer. He fit in just as easily in conservative, rural north Florida as he did in bustling Miami.