Former Rep. William Cramer (Fla.), a Republican who served the Tampa Bay area in Congress from 1955 to 1971, died Oct. 18 of a heart attack at age 81.

Cramer, a long-serving member of the GOP, was a delegate and alternate delegate to the Republican National Conventions for more than three decades. In Congress, he worked on the House Judiciary and Public Works committees. After leaving the House and running unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1970, Cramer remained in Washington practicing law and continuing his work with the Republican Party.

Cramer was born in 1922 in Denver. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1946 and received his law degree from Harvard University in 1948. Before Congress, Cramer worked as a lawyer in a private practice followed by a two-year stint in the Florida state House of Representatives from 1950 to 1952.

Survivors include his wife, Sara; three sons, William Jr., Mark and Allyn; two stepsons, Richard Hilber and Jason Hilber; and eight grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held Thursday in St. Petersburg, Fla.

— Jessica L. Brady