Former Texas Gov. Mark White dead at 77

Linda Gale White with Governor Mark White in 2014 at the Tapestry Gala benefiting Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. Linda Gale White with Governor Mark White in 2014 at the Tapestry Gala benefiting Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston. Photo: Kim Coffman Photo: Kim Coffman Image 1 of / 6 Caption Close Former Texas Gov. Mark White dead at 77 1 / 6 Back to Gallery

As the 43rd governor of Texas, Mark White ushered in education reforms that still impact schools, including limits on elementary class size, "no pass, no play" policy for high school athletes, and the first-ever statewide testing standards.

For White, who died at his Houston home on Saturday at 77, those accomplishments were the highlight of a political career guided by a principle taken from Sam Houston: "Do right and risk the consequences."

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"Mark was always someone who did what was right," said longtime friend, Mark Miller, a political consultant who first met White after he was appointed Secretary of State in 1973 by then-Gov. Dolph Briscoe.

In a lengthy interview with the Houston Chronicle just days ago, White lamented how partisan state politics have become in recent years, in both Austin and Washington. White said that can make it much harder to accomplish goals that benefit all Texans.

"But I never give up on this state, on this country," he said. "That's what you learn after being in politics as long as I have. If you give up, then you're part of the problem."

In a statement, former President George H.W. Bush mourned White's passing, noting that his "tenure as governor came during the stormy economic times of the early to mid-1980s, which led Mark to do two things that are an everlasting credit to his legacy – he laid the groundwork for diversification of the Texas economy, and he made significant investments in improving education in our great state."

The education reforms championed by White, who served as governor from 1983-1987, were not universally lauded. The "no pass, no play" rule, which required students to maintain passing grades to play sports, was politically unpopular in a state where high school football is revered.

Teacher unions bristled against a proposed competency test for teachers.

White also called for a $4 billion tax increase to pay for teacher raises and class size limits. The tax hike was partly blamed for scuttling his bid for re-election. He lost to Republican Bill Clements, the man he had defeated four years earlier.

Still White, the son of a school teacher, had no regrets.

"I think the education reforms is the main thing that succeeds a governor," White said in a 2009 interview with the Houston Oral History Project. "To have young people come up today and say, 'Thank you for No Pass No Play,' to have teachers come up and say: 'Thank you for the benefits that you gave to retired teachers back when it was tough to raise money'; to have people who say, 'Yes, I did not get to play football but we were able to pass.' 'What are you doing now?' 'Well, I am a doctor.' So that is kind of nice."

White's commitment to Texas and to his role as an elected official "permeated every aspect of his life," said his son, Andrew, who described his father as a magnetic, larger-than-life personality.

"He instilled the important things in life," Andrew White said. "He was clear about that. God comes first, country comes second, then family. I saw him live that out in his life in his work and calling."

In a statement, Gov. Greg Abbott noted that White "cared deeply about Texas, and he devoted his life to making our state even better, particularly when it came to educating our children. Mark's impact on Texas will not soon be forgotten, and his legacy will live on through all that he achieved as Governor."

Mark Wells White Jr., who was born March 17, 1940 in Henderson, Texas, was bitten early by the political bug.

"I think it was in my blood," he said in an interview with the Chronicle several weeks ago. "That's why everything that's happening now in politics is so sad. It's like combat now."

After earning a bachelor's degree in business administration from Baylor University in 1962 and a law degree from Baylor Law School in 1965, White worked in private practice for several years before taking a job as an assistant attorney general in Austin. In 1973, he was named secretary of state by Briscoe.

He resigned in 1977 to run for attorney general, winning the primary over the much-better-known Price Daniel Jr., a former speaker of the Texas House, and defeating Republican James A. Baker III in the 1978 general election.

Four years later, White ran for governor and faced incumbent Clements, the first Republican chief executive elected since Reconstruction. Democrats badly wanted the office back, and White defeated Clements 53-to-46 percent in a race that drew national attention.

Democrats gained back control of all statewide offices in that election, the last time they would do so, as Republicans were building a political base that would allow them to control all three branches of state government in coming decades.

Longtime lawmaker John Whitmire, who served in the House in the 1970s when White was attorney general and was a newly minted senator when White became governor in 1983, said White "was always someone who would tackle tough issues, even if it was not in his best political interests."

"He stood up for what he thought was right," said Whitmire, D-Houston. "His reforms to education I think were what beat him when he ran for re-election in 1986, but he took the position he thought was right. But he was not afraid to do the right thing and suffer the consequences."

As governor, White appointed Dallas billionaire H. Ross Perot to spearhead the push for the education reform measure, known as House Bill 72. Although the bill passed and went into effect on July 13, 1984, the "no pass, no play" provision faced legal challenges that went all the way to the Texas Supreme Court. The justices ultimately upheld the requirement in July 1985.

Former Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby, who served with White, called HB 72 "the greatest piece of education legislation passed in many years."

After White left office in 1987, he returned to his private law practice in Houston, at first with the firm of Keck Mahin & Cate.

In 1990, he ran for governor in a comeback attempt like Clements had successfully pulled off in 1986, but was defeated in the primary by state treasurer Ann Richards and Attorney General Jim Mattox. Richards beat Mattox in a runoff, then beat GOP front-runner Clayton Williams in the November general election.

During the Democratic primary, in which the three candidates sparred over who most strongly supported the death penalty, White appeared in a television commercial walking down a hallway lined with photos of 19 men who were executed during his previous term as the state's chief executive.

"Only a governor can make executions happen," declared White. "I did and I will."

In recent years, White modulated his stand on the death penalty and worked with the Innocence Project on behalf of wrongfully convicted inmates.

"As I've watched how the death penalty has been administered over the years, both in Texas and around the country, it has become increasingly clear to me that we just don't do a good job at any phase of the process, from ensuring that capital trials are fair to the actual handling of executions themselves," White wrote in an opinion piece for Politico, headlined "Why I changed my mind about the death penalty."

He returned to his law practice in Houston, and was involved in later years in touting technology to make prison perimeter fences escape-proof and detect heartbeats inside truck trailers, a system that he said could help thwart human smuggling across the Texas-Mexico border.

White also served as chairman of the Houston Independent School District Foundation, a non-profit organization which supports the district, and remained active in civic affairs.

In 2014, an elementary school in west Houston was named after White.

"He was very proud of that," said Miller. "His goal in life was that schoolchildren should have gotten more than was available earlier."

In his down time, White loved to hunt and take his sailboat out on Lake Travis, said his son, Andrew. He took each of his nine grandchildren on a trip to Washington, D.C., complete with a personal tour of the White House and the Capitol.

"The guy wrote the book on honor and decency," said longtime friend Barry Silverman. "If I had a million dollars in a suitcase and put it under Mark White's bed, it would still be there a year later."