Veteran legislator dies of cancer

Pat Thomas, known for his his calm, cordial disposition amid partisan battles, had an incurable blood disorder.

By LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 22, 2000

TALLAHASSEE -- Former Senate president Pat Thomas died Wednesday at his home in Quincy after a long fight against cancer.

A courteous, gracious Southern gentleman who rarely expressed anger or partisanship in an arena that is often filled with both, Thomas finished his last legislative session in May and would have retired after the November elections.

Thomas, 66, came to the Legislature in 1972 when he won a seat in the House of Representatives. He moved over to the Senate in 1974 and remained, becoming president in 1993 when the Senate had 20 Republicans and 20 Democrats.

Thomas' body will lie in state Friday at the Old Florida Capitol, a building that was saved from the wrecking ball after Thomas sponsored a 1978 bill to save it.

Gov. Jeb Bush called Thomas "a highly respected legislator" whose "good nature and passion for life and public service endeared him to so many."

House Speaker John Thrasher recalled Thomas' visits to the House.

"In an environment that can often be tense and partisan, he never forgot the overriding importance of friendship, regardless of party affiliation," said Thrasher, R-Orange Park.

Funeral services will be at 4 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church in Quincy. His body will lie in state at the Old Capitol from 10 a.m. to noon on Friday. The family will receive visitors at the Quincy church from 5 to 7 p.m. today.

Tributes poured from the offices of state officials as word of his death spread. He was praised as a "statesman," "a true gentleman" and a man with "a genuine, caring spirit."

Thomas had been fighting multiple myeloma, an incurable form of blood cancer, since 1996 when he had an autologous bone marrow transplant.

Frail and failing during the final days of the legislative session in early May, Thomas was admitted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital on May 31 and went home to Quincy on June 10.

During the past two weeks, Thomas visited with two of his oldest friends, Sen. W.D. Childers and former Sen. Dempsey Barron, both former Senate presidents. He was surrounded by family members when he died.

"He was the perfect gentleman," said Childers, a Pensacola Republican who shared an apartment with Thomas during legislative sessions. "He never seemed frustrated or angry at what was going on. In the end he was energized, looking after his projects and passing his bills."

Barron and his wife, Terri Jo, visited Thomas in Quincy a week ago and found him well enough to accompany them to dinner.

"It was obvious that the time was near," Barron said Wednesday. "But he didn't mention it."

Although many of his longtime Panhandle friends switched to the Republican Party during the last decade or so, Thomas remained a Democrat. He was a former chair of the state Democratic Party.

Longtime friends and fellow senators had trouble recalling a time when they had ever seen Thomas angry.

During a particularly fractious Senate session in April, Thomas arose from the wheelchair he was using to remind his colleagues that they were losing it.

"I don't think I've seen us as close to deterioration on the floor as I have this session," Thomas said. "You've got to be a little patient and you've got to subdue your passions."

In 1996, Thomas plotted with then Gov. Lawton Chiles and Childers to save a law that helped the state file suit against tobacco companies on behalf of Medicaid patients. They hatched the plan in a Quincy restaurant housed in an old tobacco warehouse.

A Korean War veteran, Thomas also led the fight for a Korean War Memorial, which was completed in December 1999.

Survivors include his wife, Mary Ann; his mother Verna Thomas; his daughter, Anne Jolley Byrd; his son, John Pat Thomas; and four grandchildren.

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