OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Officials say Mississippi’s longest-serving sheriff has died following a brief illness.

News outlets cite a Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department release that says 76-year-old F.D. “Buddy” East died Saturday.

East celebrated 46 years as the Lafayette County sheriff in August. He was serving his 12th term as sheriff and planned to run for the role again next year. East started working with the Oxford Police Department in 1965 and was hired nearly a decade later as the county sheriff.

Longtime friend and former prosecutor Bob Norman says East “was not a stereotypical Southern sheriff.” People who worked with East say he was an “icon of Lafayette County law enforcement” who worked to treat everyone with respect. East is survived by his wife, Mary East, and his children and grandchildren.