FILE - Christopher Samuel "Kit" Bond, a former United States Senator from Missouri, is seen before a spring training baseball game, Monday, March 21, 2011 in Jupiter, Fla. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file)

Christopher “Kit” Bond, a Republican who brought billions of dollars in federal funding to Missouri during his four terms in the U.S. Senate and who was state's the youngest person to be governor, died Tuesday. He was 86.

Bond's family told Gov. Mike Kehoe's office that Bond died in St. Louis, but it didn't disclose the cause, Gabby Picard, a spokesperson for the governor, said in an email. Kehoe ordered flags flown at half staff for the man he described as a “skilled statesman."

Jason Van Eaton, Bond’s former deputy chief of staff, told The Associated Press that his former boss' death marked the end of an era. “The lasting legacy of Kit Bond will be the thousands of people that he inspired," he said.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, of Missouri, described Bond as a “champion for Missouri” in a message on X. Former U.S. Sen. Jim Talent, of Missouri, praised Bond's “relentless and penetrating intelligence” in a statement.

As a member of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, Bond secured federal money for big and small projects in Missouri, scoffing at government watchdog groups that considered him a master of pork-barrel spending.

"If it's pork, it's an awfully healthy diet for the people of Missouri," Bond said in 1999.

Early in his career, Bond was considered a political wunderkind. When he took office at age 33 as Missouri’s youngest governor, he was also the state’s first Republican chief executive in about three decades and garnered consideration as a vice presidential candidate.

His early success stalled when he lost a reelection bid, but he later rebounded to win another term as governor before being elected to the Senate in 1986 and eventually becoming the patriarch of the Missouri Republican Party.

“Public service has been a blessing and a labor of love for me,” Bond said during his 2009 announcement to a joint session of the Legislature that he would not seek another term.

Former Gov. Matt Blunt, who was the state’s second-youngest governor, recalled the advice and friendship Bond offered after his 2004 election. He called Bond's death a “profound loss.”

When Bond entered the Senate, he downplayed hot-button issues in favor of working on legislation that benefited Missouri. Early in his career, Bond voted to override President Ronald Reagan’s veto of a highway financing bill that included money for projects in Missouri.

Bond assumed a higher national profile during his last term in the Senate. After the U.S. invasion of Iraq, he became a primary spokesman for congressional Republicans about the war during the time leading up to the 2006 elections.

Eventually, though, the Bush administration’s central allegation that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction proved baseless.

After Republicans lost control of Congress in 2006, Bond sought to mend relations with Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee after years of discord over its investigation into intelligence before the invasion of Iraq.

Testaments to Bond’s longevity in the public arena are stamped across Missouri. A federal courthouse in Jefferson City and a life sciences center at the University of Missouri-Columbia are named after him. A highway bridge crossing the Missouri River in Hermann and one in Kansas City also carry his name.

Bond often bragged about his wife, Linda, a fundraising consultant whom he married in 2002, and his son from his previous marriage, Sam.

"I have a wonderful wife, a magnificent son I'm very proud of, I have the opportunity to serve the state I love," he told the AP in 2004.

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Former Associated Press reporters Chris Blank and Sam Hananel contributed to this report.

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