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By ALEX LEARY, Times Staff WriterJACK D. GORDON (1922-2005)
Jack D. Gordon, a 20-year Democratic member of the Florida Senate who fought for and achieved change in education, health care and civil rights, died Friday after being hit by a car in California.
Mr. Gordon, 83, was walking along a road in Palm Desert about 6 p.m. when he was hit by an older model Mercedes.
He was taken to a local hospital and died, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said.
Additional details were not available Saturday, but the Sheriff's Department said a preliminary investigation revealed alcohol was not a factor.
Mr. Gordon split time between Miami Beach, Washington, D.C., and the Palm Desert area, about 125 miles east of Los Angeles.
Before being elected to the Senate in 1972, Mr. Gordon served on the Miami-Dade County School Board and played a role in the desegregation of schools there.
He was elected to six terms in the Senate and chaired several committees, including appropriations, education, health and rehabilitative services and transportation.
"He was one of the greatest statesmen Florida ever had," said former state Sen. Helen Gordon Davis of Tampa. "He was truly a man of the people."
Former state Rep. Elaine Bloom, D-Miami Beach, said Mr. Gordon was one of the last true liberals in the Legislature, fighting for the poor, sick and disadvantaged.
Still, she said, "he was able to negotiate on par with the most conservative members of the Senate. He was a person who saw possibilities. If there was path No. 1 and path No. 2, he'd find path 11/2," she said. "He would bring people together."
He sponsored constitutional amendments ensuring the right to privacy and homestead exemption. He pushed for a state lottery to finance education and the "Gordon Rule" to raise the level of writing for college students. In 1992, he sponsored a civil rights act to counter discriminatory practices at country clubs.
Mr. Gordon retired from state politics in 1992, saying the Senate was increasingly ruled by special interests.