WASHINGTON (VINnews) — Sen. Lindsey Graham, the longtime South Carolina Republican who died Saturday at 71, amassed relatively modest wealth during his more than three decades in Congress despite becoming one of the GOP’s most influential lawmakers.

Financial estimates cited by the New York Post placed Graham’s net worth at about $1.5 million, ranking him in the lower half of Congress by personal wealth. Much of his assets consisted of investment funds and two homes, including a townhouse near the U.S. Capitol.

Graham, who served in the House beginning in 1995 before winning election to the Senate in 2002, earned the same $174,000 annual Senate salary as his colleagues. He never married and had no children.

Raised in a working-class family in Central, South Carolina, Graham often credited his upbringing with shaping his public service. After both of his parents died while he was in college, he became the legal guardian of his younger sister before earning a law degree, serving in the Air Force and launching his political career.