[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 25, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H1585-H1586]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A TRIBUTE TO DOUG JAMERSON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
longtime friend of mine who passed away this weekend, Mr. Doug 
Jamerson. He was a former Florida Education Commissioner, Secretary of 
Labor, and State Representative. He was 53 when he died from cancer 
this weekend.
  Mr. Jamerson was a lively and forceful man. He was a true educator 
and a great leader. In 1982, Mr. Jamerson and I were both elected to 
the Florida House of Representatives, where we served together for 10 
years. He was a wonderful family man and he is survived by his wife 
Leatha and his son Cedric. Jamerson was a true Democrat who championed 
the cause of quality education for all children. He was a close friend 
of mine, a friendship that we developed when he was elected to the 
Florida House of Representatives in 1982. For 11 years he represented 
District 55, which covered South Pinellas County and a small part of 
Manatee County.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Meek) who 
served with Mr. Jamerson along with myself.
  Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding to me. The gentlewoman from Florida

[[Page H1586]]

(Ms. Brown), Doug Jamerson and myself served together in the Florida 
Legislature, and today he is gone. Doug Jamerson was a patriot. He was 
a man who loved Florida and who demonstrated it by serving as Labor 
Secretary and serving as Commissioner of Education. He showed his true 
love for Florida.
  He was instrumental and a driving force in Florida's Blueprint 2000, 
Mr. Speaker, and that blueprint is what set Florida on the right track 
in his educational programs. Doug wanted to see accountability in 
Florida schools, and he fought very hard for that. He was an Air Force 
veteran. He served from 1967 to 1971.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not think that anyone in the State of Florida who 
had respect for government and respect for love of the people did not 
know and did not love Doug Jamerson. He is a known man in the State of 
Florida. He was a loved man. He leaves a wife and a wonderful son to 
mourn him and the rest of us who served with him. We loved him very 
much. He will be remembered throughout our lives and throughout the 
lifetime of Florida's history as a politician and as a public servant 
who served both God and his people.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, in closing, when I think of Doug, 
I think of Paul and his great work. He has done great work for the 
people of Florida, and we will truly miss him.
  Jamerson won a national humanitarian award for helping St. Petersburg 
recover from racial violence in 1996, when he walked the streets, 
helping cool emotions. It was a natural extension of his years as a 
school security guard in the early '70s when he spent hours counseling 
teens going through desegregation at a Pinellas high school.
  His parochial school education taught Jamerson the integrity of 
discipline and one of his first acts as education commissioner was to 
advocate the socially leveling effect of wearing uniforms in public 
schools. The idea sank, but Jamerson's reputation rose as a public 
servant not given to predictable solutions. He was against both 
paddling and prayer in schools but said both had a place in a loving 
home. He was a Democrat who oversaw reduction by 50 percent of the 
state's education bureaucracy.
  Jamerson will be remembered as a gifted man whose genial disposition 
made it hard for even staunch opponents of his causes to dislike him. 
He will be missed.

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