Former state Sen. Raphael John “Ray” Musto, 85, has died.

Musto, who was released from a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, earlier this month, was suffering from lymph cell cancer.

He had been in the facility for about two months after U.S. District Judge A. Richard Caputo in January deemed him unfit to stand trial on corruption charges, due to mental instability.

Musto, a Democrat, had served eight years as a state representative for Luzerne County, and 28 years as state senator.

He retired in 2010, a week after a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of taking $25,000 in kickbacks  — cash and a “stream of benefits,” according to authorities — from a developer with projects in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. the kickbacks were in exchange for Musto to get state funding to back the projects.

Musto was charged with bribery, mail fraud, wire fraud and making false statements to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.

In 2011, State Sen. John Yudichak won Musto’s 14th District seat.Musto was surrounded by family members at his Pittston home when he died, according to niece Jacqueline Musto Carroll.Prosecutors say Musto accepted cash and free building renovations in exchange for his help obtaining taxpayer funding of development projects, and took additional cash as a reward for helping a municipality get state loans.Musto was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1971 to fill the unexpired term of his late father, James Musto. He spent a term in the U.S. House of Representatives in the early 1980s and then won election to the state Senate in 1982.He was indicted in November 2010, shortly before his retirement. He had pleaded not guilty, but the trial was repeatedly delayed by health problems that his attorneys said included a life-threatening aneurysm and advancing liver cirrhosis. They also said he had a diminished mental capacity.Carroll, his niece and the former district attorney for Luzerne County, said family members were grateful to celebrate Easter with Musto last weekend. She described her uncle as "a very giving person.""So many people would come up to me over the years and say what a good person he was," Carroll said Thursday.S

tate Sen. John Yudichak (D-Luzerne/Carbon) said, "At this time my thoughts and prayers are with Senator Ray Musto's wife, Fran, who just lost her loving husband of more than fifty years. I would also like to extend my deepest sympathies to the entire Musto family, extended family and friends as they mourn the passing of a father and a friend."

She said Musto is survived by his wife, four children and many grandchildren. The Associated Press contributed to this report.