Services for retired Texas Supreme Court Justice Bob Gammage (pictured) will be held Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Texas Senate Chamber — the same place where Gammage first made a name for himself in politics in the early 1970s. Gammage died Monday at the age of 74. He served on the high court from 1991 until 1995.
According to a press release from the Texas Supreme Court, Gammage was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1970 and won election to the Texas Senate in 1972, where he authored and passed open-government reforms and was an advocate for human rights and consumer and health-care legislation.
Gammage then won election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, beating incumbent Ron Paul, who then defeated Gammage in 1980.
Gammage was elected to Austin’s 3rd Court of Appeals in 1982, where he served until he was elected to the high court. Gammage remained active in Texas politics until 2006 when he made a late-entry run for governor in the Democratic primary election but lost in a runoff to Chris Bell.
“I have been struck by lightening five times in my political career. I was not supposed to be elected to the Texas House or the Senate or Congress or the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court,” Gammage told Texas Lawyer in 2006 during his campaign for governor. “I got in late, but you know what? They will never out-work me, they will never out-message me — they may out-spend me, but they will never out-people me."
-- John Council
Bob Gammage was simply a wonderful person with a heart the size of Texas. Both our families were original settlors of Texas. We shared common political leanings and enjoyed sharing information with one another. I will miss him. My sincerest condolences to Bob's family.
Posted by: Richard Sutherland | December 03, 2012 at 06:55 PM