David Carson
2014-12-22 01:26:09 UTC
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Former-Houston-mayor-Bob-Lanier-has-died-5971148.php
Former Houston mayor Bob Lanier has died
By Jayme Fraser, Allan Turner | December 20, 2014 | Updated: December 21,
2014 12:10pm
Bob Lanier, a 6-foot-4 cowboy boot-wearing, sports-crazy political
sharpshooter who rose from modest beginnings in blue-collar Baytown to
become one of Houston's biggest developers and most influential mayors,
died Saturday. He was 89.
In January 1992, Lanier began a six-year tenure as mayor that, in its
successes, was hailed as a model for reducing crime and revitalizing the
inner city.
At various times, for various reasons, Lanier was likened to Franklin
Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The
commonality was that Lanier, the son of a Methodist minister turned
oilfield roustabout, invariably was measured against America's greatest
movers and shakers.
"I'd put him with (Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley and (New York City Mayor
Fiorello) La Guardia as one of the great mayors in 20th century history,"
University of Houston political science guru Richard Murray once said. "He
has the ability to get things done."
To former state Sen. Jon Lindsay, who entered public life as a county
judge in 1975, Lanier was the most powerful person on the Houston scene in
the century's closing decades. To county Commissioner Steve Radack, he was
"authoritarian with a smile." For former city councilman and current
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, Lanier simply was "the 800-pound
gorilla."
The news of his death Saturday prompted remembrances of his fierce
intelligence and confident swagger.
[Much more follows at the URL]
Former Houston mayor Bob Lanier has died
By Jayme Fraser, Allan Turner | December 20, 2014 | Updated: December 21,
2014 12:10pm
Bob Lanier, a 6-foot-4 cowboy boot-wearing, sports-crazy political
sharpshooter who rose from modest beginnings in blue-collar Baytown to
become one of Houston's biggest developers and most influential mayors,
died Saturday. He was 89.
In January 1992, Lanier began a six-year tenure as mayor that, in its
successes, was hailed as a model for reducing crime and revitalizing the
inner city.
At various times, for various reasons, Lanier was likened to Franklin
Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. The
commonality was that Lanier, the son of a Methodist minister turned
oilfield roustabout, invariably was measured against America's greatest
movers and shakers.
"I'd put him with (Chicago Mayor Richard) Daley and (New York City Mayor
Fiorello) La Guardia as one of the great mayors in 20th century history,"
University of Houston political science guru Richard Murray once said. "He
has the ability to get things done."
To former state Sen. Jon Lindsay, who entered public life as a county
judge in 1975, Lanier was the most powerful person on the Houston scene in
the century's closing decades. To county Commissioner Steve Radack, he was
"authoritarian with a smile." For former city councilman and current
Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan, Lanier simply was "the 800-pound
gorilla."
The news of his death Saturday prompted remembrances of his fierce
intelligence and confident swagger.
[Much more follows at the URL]
--
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com
Dead or Alive Data Base
http://www.doadb.com