Fumo, 65, made the announcement on the Senate floor during a holiday session in which the chamber is finishing up the state budget before it takes its two-month summer break from Harrisburg.

"I will miss it terribly. I spent half my life here and I spent it here with every fiber in my body," the Democrat said. "I've loved it, I've hated it. I've had great experiences and very sad ones."

Fumo, who isn't running for re-election, faces trial in September, and his term officially ends in November. Fumo referred to the trial as a "another challenge." A banker's son from South Philadelphia, Fumo entered the Senate in 1978 and quickly rose to power as a deft politician, fundraiser and advocate for Philadelphia. As the longtime Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Fumo also commanded substantial influence over what received state funding, and what did not.

Even adversaries acknowledge that Fumo could manipulate the political process so effectively that he usually got what he wanted, even while serving with the minority Democrats. His imprint is on virtually every major Pennsylvania law signed in the past two decades, including the state's school-funding formula and the 2004 law that legalized slot-machine gambling.

Last year, federal prosecutors in Philadelphia unveiled a 139-charge indictment alleging that he defrauded the state Senate, a seaport museum and a nonprofit by using their staff and assets to do his personal and political work.

He announced in March that he would not run for re-election, citing the "cloud hanging over my head."

Gov. Rendell said Fumo's departure, under the circumstances, was saddening.

"Vince Fumo can be a very difficult, very aggravating person, no doubt about that," Rendell said last night at a ceremony to sign the state budget. "But often he's difficult and aggravating because he's fighting for the most vulnerable of our citizens." *