[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S339-S340]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING JACK REED, SR.

 Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, the State of Mississippi and the 
city of Tupelo lost a leader and model citizen with the passing of Jack 
Reed, Sr., on January 27. He led a remarkable life and earned an 
enviable reputation as a businessman, community leader, civil rights 
advocate, and education reformer. His tireless work in these roles was 
felt throughout Mississippi and set an example for embracing our better 
nature in facing all challenges.
  It has been a great privilege to have known Jack Reed. He was the 
epitome of a goodhearted man and my friend. I join a grateful State in 
expressing our appreciation for a life well lived that benefited us 
all.
  I ask that a January 28, 2016, article titled ``Tupelo Spirit loses a 
star: Reed remembered as one of Tupelo's best'' from the Daily Journal 
newspaper be printed in the Record.
  The material follows:

                [From the Daily Journal, Jan. 28, 2016]

   Tupelo Spirt Loses a Star: Reed Remembered as One of Tupelo's Best

       Tupelo.--Jack Raymond Reed, 91, Tupelo's pre-eminent civic 
     leader, died Wednesday at his residence.
       Reed was among the last of a Greatest Generation cadre of 
     Tupelo's business and professional leadership who, after 
     World War II, transformed a pleasant county-seat town into a 
     thriving city which became a regional magnet for economic 
     growth, employment, strong public education and a vigorous 
     arts and cultural community.
       Reed earned a national reputation as an eloquent advocate 
     for racial fairness and reconciliation in Mississippi. He had 
     served as a member of the United Methodist Church's 
     Commission on Religion and Race, through which he became 
     friends with key leaders in the national Civil Rights 
     Movement.
       ``Of all the people I have known in our state of 
     Mississippi, none has been more inspiring than Jack Reed. He 
     was a leader in every way his whole lifetime,'' said former 
     Mississippi Gov. William Winter. ``He was right and generous 
     and fair in his personal, private and public views. He was an 
     inspiration to me in both political and personal 
     relationships. Jack commanded respect. He did nothing that 
     was detrimental to our state or the principles for which he 
     stood. He was a Christian man, an active member of his 
     beloved Methodist church. He has made a mark in Mississippi 
     that will live forever.''
       Reed was chairman of R.W. Reed Co., the retail store 
     founded by his father in the early 20th century, and he led 
     Reed Manufacturing, which was a major force among Mississippi 
     garment industry employers in its heyday.
       Funeral services will be 11 a.m. Saturday at First United 
     Methodist Church. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday 
     at the church.
       Reed, born May 19, 1924, in Tupelo, was the son of Robert 
     W. Reed Sr. and Hoyt Raymond Reed, herself a descendant of an 
     early, influential Lee County family.
       Reed and his brothers, R.W. Reed Jr. and William Reed, were 
     high-profile leaders in the region's business and 
     manufacturing community for more than 50 years.
       Reed graduated from Tupelo High School with honors, 
     attended Vanderbilt University and graduated with a 
     bachelor's degree with honors in 1947, following an 
     interruption of his college days for service in the South 
     Pacific during World War II in the Signal Intelligence 
     Service, U.S. Army of Occupation.
       Following the war, Reed earned a master's degree in 
     retailing from New York University and returned to Tupelo, 
     where he joined the businesses founded by his father and his 
     father's brothers.
       ``Since the 1950s, Jack was considered to be in the upper 
     leadership tier of the Tupelo area and from that platform, he 
     really helped thousands of people by supporting numerous 
     programs and initiatives,'' said Lewis Whitfield, senior vice 
     president of the CREATE Foundation. ``He cared deeply about 
     all people everywhere, and he was of course a tremendous 
     advocate for education. He saw education as not only the key 
     to community and economic development, but as a way for 
     people to improve themselves. Jack was a great man and he 
     left his mark on virtually every good thing in this 
     community.''
       Reed was a director emeritus of the Daily Journal's 
     corporate board of directors, a position in which he served 
     for a half century.

[[Page S340]]

       Reed had been a close friend, confidant and community 
     builder with the late George McLean, the Daily Journal's 
     executive editor, publisher and the founder of CREATE, the 
     not-for-profit foundation which owns all stock in Journal 
     Inc.
       ``Jack Reed lived a remarkable life, a life marked by love 
     for his family, love for his community and really a love for 
     all mankind,'' said former Daily Journal publisher Billy 
     Crews, now a development officer at the University of 
     Mississippi. ``He is among the best businessmen I have ever 
     known, in part because his trade was only a portion of his 
     total business interest. His combination of intellect, humor 
     and optimism influenced thousands of others and the very 
     culture of Tupelo and Northeast Mississippi. He was a 
     pioneering leader in education and race relations.''
       Reed was no stranger to community involvement. He was 
     active in his whole career in the Mississippi Economic 
     Council, of which he served as president in 1964; president 
     of the Mississippi Retail Merchants in 1967; chair of the 
     Tupelo Community Development Foundation in 1968; president of 
     the Yocona Council of the Boy Scouts of America; national 
     president of the Vanderbilt Alumni Association in 1972 and 
     1973; chair of the administrative board of the First United 
     Methodist Church; chair of the Governor's Special Committee 
     of Public Education in 1980 and 1981; chair of the State 
     Board of Education; a member of the board of trustees of 
     Millsaps College; a founding member of the executive 
     committee of Lee United Neighbors; chair of the board of 
     CREATE; founding director of LIFT Inc. and chair of the 
     National Advisory Council on Education Research and 
     Improvement from 1991 through 1994. In addition, he received 
     Tupelo's Outstanding Citizen Award in 1971 and Lifetime 
     Achievement Award in 2000.
       ``He was a very compassionate man, always willing to help 
     those in troubling situations and people in every kind of 
     life situation,'' said Guy Mitchell III, an attorney and 
     confidant of Reed's. ``He was a giant as far as our city is 
     concerned.''
       He was married to Frances Purvis Reed, and they were the 
     parents of four children, all of whom returned to Tupelo 
     after college, three of them working for R.W. Reed Co. The 
     fourth owns an investment firm in Tupelo. Jack Reed Jr. 
     served as Tupelo mayor for one term, from 2009-13.
       Reed was well known statewide and worked with other leaders 
     of many political persuasions for causes held in common.
       ``He was a strong leader, not only on the local level but 
     on the state level. A very open minded and fair thinking 
     person,'' said Tupelo City Council member Nettie Davis, the 
     longest serving council member and lifelong Tupelo resident. 
     ``He's one that stood out as far as providing unity and good 
     leadership. I think it's going to be a great loss to our 
     city, our area and the state of Mississippi.''
       Reed chaired Mississippi's first lay State Board of 
     Education from 1982-87, and later was tapped by President 
     George H.W. Bush to head up the National Advisory Committee 
     on Education Research and Improvement.
       Reed's stance on public education was a dominating portion 
     of his campaign as the Republican nominee for governor in 
     1987. Reed eventually lost that race to Democrat Ray Mabus.
       Reed, in a 1999 archived interview for the University of 
     Southern Mississippi, described his early years in Tupelo.
       ``Well, it was different. It was a good time for me,'' Reed 
     said in the interview. ``My father was a merchant here, and 
     my mother was also a native of this area. I had two brothers; 
     we had a nice home. And of course, in this area, if you had 
     anything at all, servants were plentiful in those days. So, 
     we always had a cook, and it was in the Depression. We were 
     aware of the Depression, but my father, fortunately, sold his 
     business at the . . . appropriate time, and just before the 
     Depression hit its bottom. And he bought it back within a 
     year for considerably less than he sold it for, and it gave 
     him enough inventory to keep things going. So, we weathered 
     the Depression better than most.''
       Reed also was an adolescent when the 1936 tornado--a 
     deadly, devastating storm--struck, and he recalls its impact 
     on the city.
       ``Our home was literally destroyed by the tornado,'' Reed 
     said. ``People were killed across the street, and next door 
     and behind us, but we survived that. Interestingly, during 
     that time of the tornado, the store was not damaged. So, [my 
     father] opened the store, told his friends to take what they 
     needed, pay him when they could. I don't think he lost any 
     money on the basis of that.''
       But above all his civic, business and other contributions 
     to Tupelo, Northeast Mississippi and the state, Reed said he 
     always placed family as a top priority.
       ``The conclusion is family has been the most important 
     thing in my life; remains so; has always been,'' Reed said. 
     ``I'm a privileged person. All four of my children, went 
     away, out of this state to college. All four of them are 
     living here, now. I see my four children and my grandchildren 
     every day unless something exceptional [happens]. We work 
     together. My brothers and I were business partners for 50 
     years.
       ``I've been in one church all of my life. All of my 
     children went to Tupelo public schools. I know some people 
     would think that that's pretty provincial, but there's a 
     stability to it that I have found has been very satisfying to 
     me. So, that's the conclusion to my memoir.''

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