For a man who helped transform N.C. politics, Bob Bradshaw was quick to deflect the spotlight.

Instead, he focused it on friends and protégés, a generation of Republican leaders who would serve in Washington, Raleigh and Charlotte and help make North Carolina a two-party state.

Bradshaw died Friday at the Presbyterian Harris Hospice Unit after a long illness. He was 78.

In 1960, he helped found what would become one of Charlotte's biggest law firms, now called Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson. For decades, he was a successful attorney and active in the community.

He served on many boards, including those of Central Piedmont Community College, the Levine Museum of the New South and the N.C. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.

But it was in politics where he left one of his biggest marks.

"He was a go-to guy if you wanted to become involved in political life in North Carolina from a Republican perspective," former Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot, a friend and law partner, said. "(But) he was respected across the board by both parties."

In 1972, Bradshaw helped a Mecklenburg County commissioner named Jim Martin get elected to Congress. It was the start of a long partnership.

In 1984, he helped engineer Martin's election as governor, watching him become the state's second Republican governor in a century. A year later, Martin helped make Bradshaw the state Republican chairman.

"In politics, he was a genius," Martin said. "He's one of those strong and wise supporters who meant a great deal to me."

In his deep voice, Bradshaw dispensed advice to politicians such as Martin, Vinroot and Alex McMillan, elected in 1984 to Martin's seat in Congress.

"You know that what he said was going to be straight (and) was going to square with the facts because that's what he dealt with," Martin said. "The fact is that he was a very wise person dealing with the questions we had."

He brought the same quality to his practice.

"He was analytical, he was well-trained (and) he had good judgment," said longtime partner Russell Robinson.

Sometimes Bradshaw made his points with humor.

When he got irked at an Observer editorial, an angry letter to the editor would appear shortly from "Sherman Bradshaw," his black Labrador.

Bradshaw, who grew up in Eastern North Carolina, went to Duke University, where he became student body president.

So it was with respect - and a healthy irony - that Vinroot and his wife, Judy, pledged $1 million to UNC Chapel Hill's School of Government three years ago to honor Bradshaw.

Two-thirds of the money created a professorship in Bradshaw's name. The other third established the Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Public Administration Fellowship.

"One of the things I like about that is ... it ties Bob forever to the University of North Carolina," Vinroot said.

Survivors include his wife, Janet Young Bradshaw; daughter, Ashley Bradshaw Graeber; and son, Robert Bradshaw III.

A service is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Myers Park United Methodist Church.

Memorials can be made to The Children's Scholarship Fund, 708 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28203; or to the Harris Hospice Unit at Presbyterian Hospital, 200 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, 28204; or the Jubilee Plus Fund at Myers Park United Methodist Church, 1501 Queens Road, Charlotte, NC 28207.