Family and friends have remembered former Florida Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham as a politician who usually avoided rancor, enjoyed meeting regular Floridians and always behaved civilly, even behind closed doors.

Bob Graham became one of just 23 U.S. senators to oppose then-President George W. Bush’s request to invade Iraq in 2003.

My history with former U.S. Senator Bob Graham, who passed away April 16 at age 87, goes back a couplegenerations. His father, Ernest “Cap” Graham, was in the Florida Legislature at the same time as mygrandfather,

Bob Graham, who served three terms in the Senate and made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, died at 87 last month.