JACKSON, MS - Colleagues say they'll remember longtime state Sen. Robert G. "Bunky" Huggins of Greenwood as a hard worker who enjoyed the political give-and-take of the Mississippi Capitol.

Huggins, 67, died Wednesday after a lengthy battle with cancer, family members said. The Delta lawmaker had been under hospice care and died at a daughter and son-in-law's home in Jackson.

Huggins was serving his ninth term in the Legislature and had helped shape state corrections and health care policies during more than three decades in office. He was chairman of the Senate Corrections Committee this term and had previously served as chairman of the powerful Appropriations and Public Health committees.

"He loved to tell stories. He loved to pull jokes on people," said one of his closest friends, Senate Appropriations Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona. "His favorite time was when a new lieutenant governor came in and he could start rumors about committees."

A Leflore County manufacturer and farmer, Huggins was elected to the House in 1971 as a Democrat. He switched to the Republican Party before the 1995 election. Huggins served three terms in the House, from 1972-1984, before moving to the Senate in January 1984.

His Senate District 14 covers all of Carroll County and parts of Attala, Grenada, Leflore, Montgomery and Tallahatchie counties. Gov. Haley Barbour will set a special election to fill the vacancy.

Gordon and Huggins were in the same freshman class that entered the House in January 1972. For the past 10 years, the two had dinner together almost every night during legislative sessions, Gordon said Wednesday.

"When you had Gordon and Huggins, you had two for one," Gordon said.

Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck said Huggins was highly respected in the Legislature.

"He was a great public servant, but more than that, he was a true friend and I am going to miss him greatly," Tuck said. "Bunky Huggins worked tirelessly for the people he served, both in his district and in the entire state."

Though Huggins missed much of the 2006 session because of his illness, he went to the Capitol one day at the end of March and insisted on leading discussion of several corrections bills on the Senate floor. The effort left him visibly tired, and Huggins' colleagues gave him a standing ovation.

"Bunky Huggins' long service is marked by his commitment to success and recognized leadership," Barbour said. "He excelled in a variety of major responsibilities and served the Senate, his constituents and the state exceptionally well."

Earlier in Huggins' tenure as Corrections Committee chairman, the Legislature passed tough-on-crime laws that included a requirement that inmates serve 85 percent of their sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

He also worked to expand the number of beds at the state penitentiary at Parchman, construction of facilities in Rankin and George counties and a string of satellite and private prisons.

House Corrections Committee Chairman Bennett Malone, D-Carthage, said Huggins "was not soft on crime but he always wanted to be fair."

"He was not what I call one of these individuals who wanted to lock 'em up and throw away the key," Malone said. "On a violent offense, he was like me: He wanted to see that they paid the price for it. On these lesser offenses, he was also like me. Sometimes he thought they were given too strong sentences."

Huggins was born in Carrollton on Nov. 12, 1938. He graduated from Greenwood High School and attended the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College.

Survivors include his wife, Gerry; two children and four grandchildren.