Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens — who retired after 35 years on the bench in 2010, making him the third-longest-serving justice — died on Tuesday evening. He was 99.

The US Supreme Court said in a statement that Stevens died at Holy Cross Hospital in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida of complications from a stroke he suffered on Monday.

“[Stevens] brought to our bench an inimitable blend of kindness, humility, wisdom and independence,” said Chief Justice John G. Roberts in the statement.

“His unrelenting commitment to justice has left us a better nation.”

Despite being appointed by a Republican, President Gerald Ford in 1975, Stevens left the bench a liberal icon.

He voted to uphold affirmative action after initially being a fierce critic of it. He also aligned with the liberal justices on abortion rights and gay rights.

Stevens wrote the primary dissenting opinion in a 2008 case where the Supreme Court ruled the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to bear arms — unconnected with service in a militia.

But he may be most well known for his scathing dissent in Bush v. Gore, the controversial decision that stopped the recount of Florida ballots and allowed George W. Bush to cinch the presidency.

Born in Chicago in 1920, Stevens served in the US Navy during World War II and graduated from Northwestern University School of Law.

In 1970, after clerking for Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge and co-founding a Windy City lawfirm, Stevens was appointed to the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by Richard Nixon.

Five years later, he replaced Justice William O. Douglas on the bench.

He was succeeded by Justice Elana Kagan.

He his survived by two daughters, nine grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.

Both his first and second wife and two of his children, a son and a daughter, preceded him in death.