There are politicians who stand from a pulpit pumping their fists to accentuate a heated speech.

And then there was Bunk - a likeable, noncontroversial, hardworking man whose greatest gift was not to bask in greatness.

In the wake of the death of former Maryland Secretary of State Tyras S. "Bunk" Athey at Hospice of the Chesapeake in Annapolis on Tuesday, those who knew him offered their praise and even reverence: Praise and a reverent respect for a man who served 27 years in the state House of Delegates and was a lifetime advocate for his community and his county.

"I looked at him as the kind of guy I...