Memorial for Ex-Speaker of Mississippi House Set for Tuesday

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A memorial service is set for former Mississippi House Speaker Tim Ford, who died of a heart attack Friday in Oxford. He was 63.

The Balch & Bingham law firm, where Ford was a partner, announced Sunday that visitation is 3-5 p.m. Monday and 9-11 a.m. Tuesday at Parkway Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Ridgeland.

The memorial service is 3 p.m. Tuesday at Paris-Yates Chapel at the University of Mississippi in Oxford.

Ford was elected as a Democrat to the Mississippi House in 1979. His colleagues in the 122-member House elected him speaker in January 1988, and he remained in that role until he left the Legislature in January 2004.