Former Florida. Gov. Claude Kirk dies at 85

TALLAHASSEE -- Claude Kirk, a flamboyant self-promoter who became Florida’s first Republican governor of the 20th century even though he never held prior public office, died Wednesday. He was 85.

Kirk died peacefully in his sleep at his West Palm Beach home, his family said in a statement.

“He woke up every morning with 30 new ideas, 28 of which weren’t the best in the world, but two were absolutely genius,” said Nat Reed, who was Kirk’s environmental adviser and later served as assistant interior secretary under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Rural Democrats dominated Florida politics when Kirk was elected in 1966, but his victory over Robert King High cracked open the door for what eventually became the Republicans’ mastery of Tallahassee.

Although his political rivals derided the colorful insurance executive from Jacksonville, Kirk is credited with changing the course of state government and politics during his four-year term.

“There weren’t a lot of people ready to be Republicans,” the California-born Kirk recalled of those days during a 1999 interview with The Associated Press. “We had to create our own.”

Political niceties were of no concern to Kirk, who was known as “Claudius Maximus,” and “Kissing Claude,” the latter a reference to his fondness for women and them for him.

Kirk also enjoyed battling with Florida’s power brokers and a bureaucracy filled with retired lawmakers, Reed said.

“He tore down the temple of Old Florida,” Reed said. “Gov. Reubin Askew followed him and built New Florida out of the rubble that Kirk left.”

Reed, currently vice chairman of the Everglades Foundation, credited Kirk with starting to clean up Florida’s environment that then was blighted by raw or ill-treated sewage flowing into the ocean and lakes. He said Kirk initially supported building an airport in the Everglades and the Cross-Florida Barge Canal but ardently opposed both when he realized what they’d do to the environment.

Claude R. Kirk Jr. was born Jan. 7, 1926, in San Bernardino, Calif., and attended high school in Montgomery, Ala. He served in the Marines in World War II and Korea and graduated from the University of Alabama Law School.

He moved to Jacksonville in 1956 to found the American Heritage Insurance. He became a Republican in 1960 to head the “Floridians for Nixon” campaign. Nixon carried the state by 3 percentage points over then-Sen. John F. Kennedy.

Kirk ran for the U.S. Senate in 1964 and lost. He then ran for governor in 1966, saying he didn’t like the way the government was operating.

Kirk and Erika lived in West Palm Beach, where the former governor spent most of his time in investment banking.

A son-in-law, U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw of Jacksonville, served as president of the Florida Senate in 1992 and was sent to Washington by voters in 2000 from Florida’s heavily Republican 4th Congressional District.

“Claude Kirk was probably the most charismatic person I ever met,” Crenshaw said in a statement. “He could be hysterically funny and fearlessly bold.”

Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement that Kirk will be remembered as “a strong, outspoken and capable leader.”

Kirk’s political allegiances matched his eclectic personality. Kirk was a longtime friend of Nixon adviser Bob Finch, a former lieutenant governor in California.

After Watergate had forced Nixon from office, Kirk visited Finch at the White House.

“He said to me, `Kirk, do you know they have nine hours of you on tape in the White House?’ I said, `Did I say anything?’ He said, `As usual, nothing.”’

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Associated Press writer Bill Kaczor contributed to this report.

This story was originally published September 29, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Former Florida. Gov. Claude Kirk dies at 85."