Bob Graham, Former Florida Governor and Senator, Dies at 87

Daniel Robert Graham, who never used his given name, was born in Coral Gables, Fla., on Nov. 9, 1936, to Ernest R. “Cap” and Hilda (Simmons) Graham. By a previous marriage, to Florence Morris, Ernest Graham had three children, Mary, Philip and Bill Graham, half-siblings of Robert. Phil Graham and his wife, Katharine (Meyer) Graham, whose family owned The Washington Post, were co-owners of the newspaper, and he also became publisher.

Ernest Graham, a dairy farmer, mining engineer, real estate developer and Democratic politician, was a Florida senator from 1937 to 1944. His second wife was a teacher. Some genealogical studies suggest that the Graham family shared common distant ancestors with Presidents Jimmy Carter, Richard M. Nixon and Warren G. Harding.

At Miami Senior High School, Robert Graham received the Sigma Chi Award, the school’s highest honor for character, leadership, scholarship and service; was elected president of the student body in his senior year and graduated in 1955. At the University of Florida, he was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society and received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1959. He earned a degree from Harvard Law School in 1962.

In 1959, Mr. Graham married Adele Khoury. They had four daughters: Gwen, Cissy, Suzanne and Kendall. Gwen Graham was a United States representative from Florida from 2015 to 2017, ran unsuccessfully for governor of Florida in 2017 and became an assistant secretary of education in the Biden administration.

Mr. Graham lived in Miami Lakes, a town founded by his family. He began his political career in 1966 with election to the Florida House of Representatives from Dade County. In 1970 he won a seat in the Florida Senate, also from Dade, and was re-elected in 1972 and 1976 in a redrawn district that encompassed parts of northern Dade and southern Broward Counties.