Beloved Former Florida Governor Buddy MacKay Passes Away Peacefully at 91 – A Life of Service Remembered

At the age of 91, former Florida Governor Buddy MacKay passed away. According to his son Ken MacKay, Buddy passed away quietly while sleeping at his Ocklawaha, Florida, home. According to Ken MacKay, “It was a very peaceful end to a great life,” After Governor Lawton Chiles passed away unexpectedly in 1998, Buddy MacKay took over as governor for a limited period of time.

MacKay served two terms as lieutenant governor of Lawton Chiles. After Chiles’ death on December 12, 1998, he became governor for 23 days, although he lost the 1998 gubernatorial election to Jeb Bush. He concentrated on making sure the transition to Bush’s administration went smoothly throughout his brief tenure. “It was overwhelmingly sad,” stated MacKay in an interview from 2012. He believed his first responsibility was to help with the transition.

During his brief tenure, MacKay never took up residence in the governor’s mansion. He understood his job as a caregiver, according to MacKay’s adviser and political strategist Jim Krog. He was aware that there were things to finish before he left the office. MacKay remained humorous in spite of losing three statewide elections. He joked, “I got out of politics because of illness,” after losing to Bush. The electorate grew weary of me.

Childhood and Work

Born in Ocala on March 22, 1933, Kenneth H. MacKay Jr. was known as Buddy from a young age. “In the old South, which I was born into, Buddy means junior,” he said. He became an attorney and citrus producer after serving in the United States Air Force from 1955 to 1958, where he witnessed integration firsthand. In 1968, MacKay started his political career in the Florida House, and in 1974, he continued in the state Senate. Later, he began serving in the US House of Representatives in 1982, although he narrowly lost to Republican Connie Mack III in the 1988 US Senate race.

Legacy and Later Times

As MacKay served in the military, his opinions on race changed dramatically. Although he grew up working with Black laborers, he went to segregated restaurants and schools. He witnessed the possibility of desegregation throughout his tenure in the Air Force. “Not until I went into the military did I see the potential for getting this behind us,” he stated.

MacKay continued to be involved in his latter years by mediating cases in juvenile court and performing pro bono work for Southern Legal Counsel. Additionally, he backed President Bill Clinton throughout the Monica Lewinsky controversy, when many Democrats turned against him, and he was President Clinton’s special envoy to Latin America. When Democrats controlled state politics during Florida’s integration push, MacKay’s political career got underway. He persisted in his commitment to public service in spite of obstacles, and his efforts and commitment to equality and justice had a long-lasting effect.