Floridians honored the lifelong public servant not just for his 23 days as governor, but his time as a state legislator, congressman and diplomat.

Kenneth "Buddy" MacKay, Florida's most recent Democratic governor who took office on the death of Gov. Lawton Chiles, has died at age 91.

Former Gov. Buddy MacKay, a longtime Florida politician who became governor for nearly a month following the abrupt death of Gov. Lawton Chiles in late 1998, died in his sleep on Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his adult sons and wife, Anne.

Former Florida Gov. Buddy MacKay passed away Tuesday at 91, peacefully at his home in Ocklawaha. As a prominent Democrat, MacKay briefly served as governor after Gov. Lawton Chiles' unexpected death in 1998.

Buddy MacKay, former Florida governor, has died at 91. He served briefly after the death of Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1998.

Former Florida Gov. Kenneth “Buddy” MacKay, 91, died peacefully during an afternoon nap at his home in Ocala surrounded by his wife and sons on New Year’s Eve, a family spokesman said Thursday. MacKay’s decades-long public-service career included stints as a state legislator, U.S. representative, lieutenant governor and — briefly — governor.

John Kennedy, Florida Capital Bureau reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper, spoke with FOX 35's Garrett Wymer about covering Buddy MacKay and how history will remember him. MacKay, 91, died on New Year's Eve at his home in Ocala.