FILE -This Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 file photo shows Former Michigan Gov. William Milliken before the dedication of the William G. Milliken State Park & Harbor in Detroit. William G. Milliken, Michigan’s longest-serving governor who established a record of environmental conservation and bipartisan cooperation that made him popular among Republicans and Democrats, died Friday, Oct. 18, 2019 at age 97, a family spokesman said. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio,)

TRAVERSE CITY (AP) — William G. Milliken, Michigan’s longest-serving governor who established a record of environmental conservation and bipartisan cooperation that made him popular among Republicans and Democrats, died Friday at age 97, a family spokesman said.

Milliken died at his home in Traverse City after years of declining health, Jack Lessenberry said.

The Republican was promoted to governor from lieutenant governor in 1969 when Gov. George Romney resigned to join President Richard Nixon’s administration. Milliken subsequently won three elections but didn’t run again in 1982, retiring from politics after 14 years as Michigan’s chief executive.

Milliken was a moderate Republican who occasionally crossed swords with members of his own party but was popular with big-city Democrats, especially Coleman Young, Detroit’s first black mayor.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, called him a “true statesman.”

“He had a unique ability to bring people from both sides of the aisle together for the betterment of Michigan,” she said. “We are a stronger, safer, more sustainable state because of his leadership and dedication to the people who call it home.”

One of his first acts was sending the Legislature a 20-point environmental agenda, ushering in a period that produced far-reaching ecological safeguards. Among them: the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, enabling citizens to sue polluters; protections for rivers, Great Lakes coastlines, wetlands and inland lakes; a deposit on soda and beer bottles; and limits on phosphorus in laundry detergent to help Lake Erie.

Milliken “believed government should be about seeking solutions that bring people together, instead of political issues that divide,” said William Rustem, who was his environmental adviser.

Prodded by his wife, Milliken helped broker a compromise that limited oil and gas drilling in the Pigeon River State Forest. He signed a 1972 law to create the Michigan Lottery, which remains a key source of cash for schools.

Milliken said in a 2006 interview that defending the environment was a “never-ending struggle.”

“The tragedy is that once we lose the beauty and the environmental values around us, we’ve lost it forever,” he said. “We must come to understand these values and fight for them.”

Perhaps Milliken’s most surprising alliance was with Young, whose left-wing politics and combative style antagonized white conservatives. Milliken won over Young by supporting state aid to Detroit as the city struggled with racial strife.