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Several hundred friends and family members paid tribute to the late Admiral LeRoy Collins Jr. this morning in Tallahassee. Collins was killed while riding his bicycle in Tampa last Thursday. He was the son of a man many call Florida’s greatest Governor.  As Mike Vasilinda tells us, greatness runs deep in the Collins Family

Admiral LeRoy Collins grew up in the shadow of a famous father but achieved his own greatness. He was laid to rest next to his mother and father in a family cemetery with full military honors.

His father, LeRoy Collins, was Governor at the height of the civil rights struggle.

Governor LeRoy Collins was the first southern leader to embrace integration and was the first to use a live statewide TV address to calm a nervous state.

Admiral Collins ran briefly for the US Senate in 2006, then went on to head the Florida Department of Veterans affairs. Former FSU President Sandy D’Alemberte knew both father and son well.

“Roy Jr. was never content to just be the son of the governor,” D’Alemberte said.  “He set off on his own path and contributed immensely as a Naval officer.

The Collins family home has been donated to the state and will be a museum.