Californians across the state are mourning the loss of former state senator John Burton, 92, who died on Sept. 7.

Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement provided to media outlets.

“He believed that if you’re in a position of power or influence, the most important thing you could do is help those with the least,” his family said. “Protecting the underdog, the poor, the disabled, and workers was always his top priority.”

Burton was born Dec. 15, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in San Francisco.

After Burton’s death, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom announced that they planned to induct him into the California Hall of Fame. The governor also ordered flags at the State Capitol to be flown at half-staff in his honor.

“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton,” Newsom said in a statement. “He was a towering figure—a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better.”

Burton served as a state senator from 1996 to 2004 and as a member of the state Assembly from 1965 to 1974 and again from 1988 to 1996.

Burton was elected California Democratic Party chair and held the post from 2009 to 2017.

During his career, Burton founded the nonprofit organization John Burton Advocates for Youth in 2004, which serves youth who have been homeless or in foster care. The organization posted a dedication to its founder on its website.

“Senator Burton stood up for the voiceless, the underdog. He possessed a far too rare desire and ability to find common ground across ideological differences,” the organization stated.

Tributes to Burton poured in from the state’s many top Democrats who trumpeted his legacy of compassion for working people and disadvantaged children.

Former congresswoman and current Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said Burton’s mentorship shaped generations of Democratic leaders, and his legacy was “alive in every progressive victory in California.”

“For more than five decades, John fought for those without a voice—from foster children to farmworkers, from union members to the elderly. ... California has lost a giant, but his fight for justice lives on in us,” Lee posted on Facebook.

She encouraged her followers to honor Burton by recommitting to his core values of courage, compassion, and the “belief that government must serve all people.”

State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Democrat from Salinas, recalled Burton’s activism.

“His legacy is everywhere,” Rivas said in a statement. “He leveraged California’s size and influence to do the most good across decades, from divestment in South Africa to supporting farmworkers to enshrining abortion rights in our Constitution.”

Former U.S. House Speaker and San Francisco Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi issued a lengthy social media tribute to the late party leader, recalling his “big heart.”

Burton managed Pelosi’s first campaign for Congress in 1987, to fill a seat held by his brother, Philip Burton, who died of a heart attack in 1983, and then sister-in-law Sala Burton.

“John Burton was a towering progressive warrior, who for half a century never pulled a punch in his dogged fight for a fairer future for our children,” Pelosi wrote.

Burton’s induction into the California Hall of Fame will be held in December. Inductees are selected annually by the governor and his wife.

Burton is survived by his daughter Kimiko Burton and two grandchildren. 

The family requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the John Burton Advocates for Youth.