Congressman Bob Davis with President Ronald Reagan in 1988. (Photograph courtesy of Mark Ruge) Former Michigan U.S. Congressman Bob Davis, a St. Ignace native who represented the Upper Peninsula and northern Michigan in Congress from 1979 through 1992, worked to lower tolls on the Mackinac Bridge, supported Great Lakes issues in congressional committee, and fought to keep the icebreaker Mackinaw working on the Great Lakes. Mr. Davis died Friday, October 16, 2009, in Alexandria, Virginia. He was 77.

Church bells rang throughout the U.P. village of Calumet Friday to mark his passing. They were the same church bells that rang 17 years ago when Mr. Davis, in his last act in Congress, steered through passage of legislation to create the Keweenaw National Historical Park in Michigans Copper Country.

A moderate Republican, Mr. Davis was known for his efforts to serve individual constituents across his district and for maintaining a wide range of friends and colleagues on both sides of the political aisle. Many of them expressed their respect for his work in public statements Friday.

Mr. Davis, who grew up in St. Ignace and was a graduate of LaSalle High School, got an early taste of politics as a city councilman here from 1964 to 1966. He was then elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1966.

The lawmaker won 11 consecutive races before retiring in 1993. He served seven terms in Congress, two terms in the Michigan House of Representatives (1966 to 1970), and two terms in the Michigan State Senate (1970 to 1978). Mr. Davis was the Michigan Senate Republican leader from 1974 to 1978.

One of his major accomplishments occurred early in his career in public service when, in 1968, he teamed with then-Governor George Romney to write legislation to reduce the tolls on the Mackinac Bridge from $7.50 per round trip for automobiles. Mr. Davis’ amendment dropped the toll to $1.50 each way. Immediately after the reduced toll went into effect January 1, 1969, traffic levels surged by 22% on the bridge that provided, and continues to provide, an economic link between the two peninsulas.

In Congress, he served as the top Republican on the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, which oversaw federal policy related to the Great Lakes. Mr. Davis championed the process that led to the establishment of the first National Marine Sanctuary on the Great Lakes, the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary near Alpena. He successfully prevented repeated efforts by the Coast Guard to decommission the icebreaker Mackinaw, the loss of which, he said, would have left the Great Lakes with insufficient icebreaking capacity. He helped bring the Coast Guard buoy tender Acacia to Charlevoix and secured an addition to the Hammond Bay Biological Laboratory near Cheboygan that would bolster national research into sea lamprey control methods.

He also arranged for millions of dollars worth of road funding around Petoskey and Traverse City, helped the Mackinac Island library gain funding, and went to bat for endangered projects such as the Ontanagon Hospital, a Traumatic Brain Unit at Marquette General Hospital, the Alanson Lock on the Crooked River, and a senior citizen housing project in Alpena.

But it was the opportunities to help individual people in his district solve even the smallest problems that Mr. Davis himself valued most in his career, he told The St. Ignace News upon leaving office in 1992.

"I've had people from Manistique call and tell me that their driveway wasn't plowed," Mr. Davis said in a 1992 interview. "We never turned down any [request for help with a problem]. We didn't always solve it, but no matter how small it was, we didn't turn it down."

Mr. Davis' office was often among the highest-rated on Capitol Hill when it came to "casework" -- helping constituents.

"Probably the proudest thing for me is the fact that we helped literally thousands upon thousands of people with small problems," he said.

He also credited his long seniority in the House as a factor that enabled him to succeed in many of these endeavors, and saw 1992's newly minted term limits for legislators as a setback to effective government.

Mr. Davis represented a sprawling Congressional District, one of the largest in the nation, that extended from Ironwood in the western U.P. to cities in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. He was known for his extensive constituent service operation with nine district offices and a team of staffers who traveled the district with him to solve problems like lost Social Security checks, said his former chief of staff, Mark Ruge.

Mr. Davis always considered St. Ignace his true home, Mr. Ruge recalled. At Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, one of the congressman's favorite places, Mr. Ruge said, flags were flown at half staff Friday in his honor.

"He loved to sit on the big porch and look out over the Straits and, of course, at the bridge. That was heaven on earth to him," Mr. Ruge said Friday. "St. Ignace was always home, even after he stopped living there. The whole combination of St. Ignace, the bridge, and the Island was very special to him. He was a one-of-akind guy. You can find his fingerprints on every corner of the district, but especially near St. Ignace."

Robert Traxler, a Democrat from the Saginaw area who served with Mr. Davis in the Michigan House of Representatives and U.S. Congress and who now has a summer residence on Mackinac Island, said Mr. Davis was "a true representative of the people."

"We were close friends from our earliest days together," Mr. Traxler said, "and I came to know him as a very impartial, moderate Republican who had a genuine love and concern for the welfare of the district he represented, his constituents, his state, and the nation. He was well liked by persons of both parties."

Another fellow State Representative, Dennis Cawthorne of Manistee, was also a freshman in 1966. Now a lobyist in Lansing and a businessman on Mackinac Island, Mr. Cawthorne said Bob Davis was always enthusiastic about the Straits area.

"He genuinely worked hard to represent his people," Mr. Cawthorne said. "He really did go the extra mile to get around and do things that would benefit his district.

"I think that he always thought that the Mackinac bridge toll reductions was one of his major achievements. There was a lot of opposition at that time, and he worked hard to get it passed."

Congressman Fred Upton of St. Joseph served with Mr. Davis for three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, and recalls Mr. Davis as a "champion of the Great Lakes and a conservationist."

"While I personally lost a friend and mentor, Michigan lost a tireless advocate today in Bob Davis," Mr. Upton said Friday. "A member of the State House, State Senate, and United States Congress, Bob dedicated nearly three decades to the folks of Michigan he loved so much. He was dogged in his efforts on behalf of the Upper Peninsula, ensuring everyone across northern Michigan had a voice in Lansing and Washington.

"Bob and I shared some wonderful memories he was always of good humor, a fun loving gentleman whose presence in the Halls of Congress melted away any sense of partisanship."

Congressman Bart Stupak, who succeeded Mr. Davis in the district, called Mr. Davis a "dedicated public service, devoted to northern Michigan" even beyond his term of service, and noted his strength in directly communicating with his constituents.

"In 2002, I was proud to pass legislation renaming the St. Ignace post office the Bob Davis Post Office Building in honor of Bobs commitment and service to the Upper Peninsula," Mr. Stupak said. "Bob was a friend and he will be greatly missed."

Longtime U.S. Senator Carl Levin also noted his strong support with voters. The two lawmakers worked together on the development of the Keweenaw National Historical Park.

"With the passing of former Congressman Bob Davis, Michigan's First District, and all of Michigan, have lost a great friend," Mr. Levin said. "His constituents loved him and he loved his constituents."

Mr. Davis was born in Marquette. He grew up and worked in St. Ignace, where his parents, George and Darlene Davis, lived and had business interests, including a funeral home and interest in a Ford dealership, then owned by George Davis and Vern Thompson, and still operating in St. Ignace today under ownership of the Krause family. In those years, the dealership was at the site of the present-day Northern Lights restaurant, said Bruce Dodson.

He was graduated from Wayne State University with a mortuary science degree in 1954, and became co-owner and operator of Davis Funeral Home with his father, George Davis. The elder Mr. Davis had worked for Walker Funeral Home in St. Ignace before starting his own business in 1950; it was later sold to Mr. Dodson in 1969, and operated under the name Davis-Dodson Funeral Home until the death of George Davis. Bob Davis also owned the St. Ignace Greenhouse and Flower Shop for a time.

After his election to office, Congressman Davis eventually moved to Gaylord, living there for much of his time in Congress.

He retired from Congress in 1993. Since then, he lived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., traveling back to Michigan regularly. He is survived by his wife, Brook, and five children, Rob, Lisa, George, Alexandra, and Hannah.

A funeral will be Monday, October 19, at Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia, at 4:30 p.m., with a reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to The Bob Davis Fund (at Northern Michigan University Foundation, 1401 Presque Isle Avenue, Marquette, Michigan 49855.