was featured on the cover of Time magazine in 1938 and 1983. During this time, Republicans often joked that he and House Speaker Tip O'Neill were the only Democrats who really drove President Ronald Reagan crazy. Personal life and death On May 26, 1989, Pepper was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George H. W. Bush. Four days later, Pepper died in his sleep from stomach cancer. His body lay in state for two days in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol; he was the 26th American so honored and was the last person to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda with an open casket. Pepper was buried at Oakland Cemetery in Tallahassee. A special election was held in August 1989 to fill his seat, won by Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who served until retiring at the conclusion of the 115th Congress. Legacy A number of places in Florida are named for Pepper, including the Claude Pepper Center at Florida State University (housing a think tank devoted to intercultural dialogue in conjunction with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and an institute on aging) and the Claude Pepper Federal Building in Miami, as well as several public schools. Large sections of U.S. Route 27 in Florida are named Claude Pepper Memorial Highway. Since 2002, the Democratic Executive Committee (DEC) of Lake County has held an annual "Claude Pepper Dinner" to honor Pepper's tireless support for senior citizens. The Claude Pepper Building (building number 31) at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland is also named for him. Pepper's wife Mildred was well known and respected for her humanitarian work and was honored with a number of places in Florida named in her honor. A year after his passing, Claude Pepper was honored in a play written by Shepard Nevel and directed by Phillip Church. Pepper premiered in June 1990 to a full house at the Colony Theater in Miami Beach. In 1993, Bradenton, Florida actor Kelly Reynolds portrayed Pepper in several performances held at area schools, libraries and nursing homes. Awards In 1982, Pepper received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an annual presentation of the Jefferson Awards. In 1983, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. In 1985, the Roosevelt Institute awarded Pepper its Four Freedoms medal. Pepper would be posthumously inducted into the Florida Civil Rights