Reuben Senterfitt, who redefined role of Texas House speaker, dies at 96
In his 14 years as a state legislator, Reuben Senterfitt helped create one of the nations leading cancer research centers, expanded the states mental health services and public education and brought a new level of influence to the role of the Texas House speaker.
Senterfitt, a San Saba rancher and country lawyer who served as House speaker from 1951 to 1955, helped create a planning process for budgeting the state on a biennial basis one of the main jobs of the Legislature said Patrick Cox, a former assistant director at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas who worked on a history project about state House speakers.
Senterfitt, 96, died Wednesday in Buda after developing complications from pneumonia. He was described as a devoted and loving father to seven children and a champion of state services and military veterans after World War II.
He helped expand the influence of the speakers office, he helped improve services particularly in mental health and in education and he really was a very positive force in state politics during his era, Cox said. He characterized himself as being very conservative, but he understood there was a role the government played to help protect citizens and provide some basic services that everyone needed.
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Senterfitt, a Democrat, co-authored legislation that created the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.