PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WJHG/WECP) – Flags are flying at half-staff in honor of Bob Graham. Graham was a former governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987. After serving as governor, he moved to serve in the United States Senate from 1987 to 2005. He is survived by his wife of sixty-five years, Adele, and his 4 children. He was 87 years old.

Jimmy Patronis, the Chief Financial Officer of Florida knew, Graham. He said he often frequented the panhandle and his family business, Captain Anderson’s. He spoke to News Channel 7 about Graham’s impact on his career.

“Back when it was Governor Graham, I mean it was a big deal when a sitting governor of the state of Florida comes and visits your business and he would bring all the girls down and they would have dinner at the restaurant and so having the governor at Captain Andersons was always a treat. Then as he continued his career, he went on to the United States Senate and he took some positions that history will judge him by because there were things whether it be the Iraq War… some of the intelligence that he brought forward… He was the chairman of Senate Intelligence. It was a significant committee. So he did a lot of things, in my opinion that were outstanding, also somewhat unpopular, but the fights were the right fights to have.”

Patronis also said that although their politics didn’t always align, that Graham was still a good human being. Bob Graham will lie in state Friday the 26th at the state capitol.

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