Memorial Service For Marvin Leath To Be Held Dec. 17 At Baylor
A public memorial service for former Central Texas U.S. Rep. Marvin Leath will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 17 in the Meadows Recital Hall of Baylor University's Glennis McCrary Music Building.
Leath, a resident of Falls Church, Va., died Dec. 10 at a Washington, D.C.-area hospital after a struggle with heart disease. He was 69. Funeral services were held Wednesday in Henderson.
Leath succeeded longtime U.S. Rep. W.R. (Bob) Poage in 1978 and represented the 11th Congressional District until his retirement from Congress in 1990. One of the founders of the "Boll Weevils," a group of Southern Democrats who worked closely with GOP members on fiscal and budget issues, Leath served on several notable committees, including the House Budget Committee, where he was chairman of the panel's Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, and the House Armed Services Committee.
Born in Rusk County in 1931, Leath was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and served in the U.S. Army from 1954-56. He returned to his hometown of Henderson in 1957 to coach high school football and track before becoming involved in the banking industry several years later. Leath was executive vice president of the First State Bank of Marlin, founded Central National Bank in Waco and was an officer and director at three other Central Texas banks. After retiring from Congress, Leath worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C.
A strong supporter of Baylor's mission, Leath received the university's James Huckins Medallion in 1995. He is survived by his son Thomas, a 1990 Baylor graduate.
NOTE TO EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: The memorial service is open to the media. Please call Lori Scott Fogleman, director of media relations, for specific information.