ST. JOSEPH, Mich. (AP) — Former longtime Michigan lawmaker Harry Gast, a Republican who served for 32 years and led the state Senate’s budget committee for 18 years, has died. He was 94.

The Starks & Menchinger Chapel says Gast died Thursday at his St. Joseph home.

The lifelong farmer was known for delivering budget news bluntly to legislators and telling them what they didn’t want to hear.

Attorney General Bill Schuette, a former state senator, calls Gast a “tremendous friend and colleague as well as a true fighter and leader.”

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Al Pscholka says Gast was a “legend” and “giant who cast a large shadow over Lansing and all of Southwest Michigan.”

A funeral and burial will be held Monday. Gast is survived by his wife, three children and many grandchildren.