Former Mississippi House Speaker Tim Ford Has Died

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Tim Ford, a former speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, has died. He was 63.

Ben Stone, one of Ford’s partners at the Balch & Bingham law firm, confirmed Ford died of a heart attack Friday evening in Oxford.

Ford was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House in 1979 from a district in the Tupelo area.

His colleagues in the 122-member House elected Ford as speaker in January 1988. He remained in that role until January 2004.

After leaving the Legislature, Ford went into private law practice.

As presiding officer in the House, Ford let chairmen have control over bills in their committees. That was a change from his predecessor, Democrat C.B. “Buddie” Newman, who kept tighter control over what was considered.

Governor Phil Bryant released this statement about Ford’s passing: “Deborah and I are so sad to hear of the untimely passing of our dear friend Tim. I have lost too many friends lately. We lost a good man who loved his family and his state.”