Hundreds of mourners Friday came to Tallahassee’s old Capitol to pay final respects to the man whose public service included championing environmental conservation, government transparency, and later justice for 9/11 families: Florida’s late governor and U.S. senator, Daniel Robert Graham.
Known as Bob Graham over his long political career, he died April 16 at a retirement community in Gainesville, where he lived with his wife, Adele. He was 87.
Graham lay in state at the Florida Historic Capitol Museum, having been brought into the building by military and state law enforcement honor guards. Adele Graham paused for a moment, laying a hand on the casket after it was carried to the second-floor landing.
A parade of old friends and former Democratic and Republican colleagues consoled family members at the end of a long receiving line.
President Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, did not attend but sent a flower arrangement of white lilies, hydrangeas, white stock flowers, and roses.