Forced into exile as a boy, the Florida Republican became a voice for democracy in his native Cuba and a committed champion of immigrants.

The Florida scion of an anti-communist political family, he served in the House for 18 years at a time when Cuban Americans exerted peak influence on U.S. policies.

Balart, a prominent Cuban American figure and a longtime Republican politician who represented South Florida in Congress for nearly 20 years, died on Monday morning after battling cancer.