Across nearly fifty years in the House, he treated each vote as a promise renewed. Jobs, schools, hospitals, and safe streets were daily work, not campaign lines. He argued fiercely, laughed easily, and pushed younger lawmakers to keep their eyes on the people who sent them. At 94, his passing closes an era, but his measure of leadership endures: service over spectacle, stewardship over swagger, and a legacy written quietly into millions of ordinary lives.