[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 46 (Thursday, March 15, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E318-E319]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN MEMORIAM: TEXAS STATE SENATOR JACK OGG

                                  _____
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 15, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today we honor the life and memory of 
longtime Texas lawmaker and my friend, Jack Ogg of Houston, Texas who 
recently passed away at the age of 84.
  Jack Ogg was a political icon who had a 52-year career in Texas 
politics and law. He represented the Houston area for 16 years, first 
as a State Representative and then as a State Senator. His love for the 
State of Texas and the law prompted him to further serve with a run for 
Texas Attorney General. After an unsuccessful race, Jack returned to 
his renowned law practice in Houston.
  When I was a criminal court judge in Houston, Senator Ogg practiced 
in my court.
  Jack was also the father of Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg. 
Kim worked alongside her father at the Ogg Law Firm and remembers her 
father not only as a great statesman, but a wonderful father who kept 
his family as his top priority. Kim said her father, ``was my closest 
confidante.'' Mr. Speaker, when I saw Jack recently at the funeral of 
our friend, the late Texas Governor Mark White, you could tell he was 
beaming with pride for Kim and how she was carrying on the Ogg 
tradition of public service.
  Those who served in the legislature alongside Jack said he did what 
he thought was best for his district and worked inside the rules of the 
legislature instead of concerning himself with partisan fights. He did 
what was right and stuck to his principles.
  Jack told friends he was proud of authoring the bilingual education 
act in Texas; the bill to create Metro in Harris County; and a measure 
re-instating the death penalty in the state. Jack's friend Houston 
attorney Robert Pelton described Ogg as, ``one of the finest human 
beings I've ever met in my life'' who did many good things for the 
state of Texas.
  I admired Jack's adventurous spirit and determination. He suffered 
from congestive heart failure for many years, but that didn't stop him 
from being active not only in Houston, but across the globe. Just a few 
months ago, Mr. Speaker, he took a cruise to Spain and Italy. His 
family said he was born with an explorer's heart and he traveled to 
more than 225 countries and islands, and visited all seven continents.
  Senator Ogg was born in 1933 during the Depression. His family moved 
to Houston in the 1950s. He graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 
Baytown, Texas then worked his way through the University of Houston, 
where he was twice elected class president. He went to law school at 
night at South Texas College of Law and was admitted to the State Bar 
of Texas in 1962. He lost his beloved wife of more than 50 years, 
philanthropist Connie Harner Ogg, to cancer in 2010.
  Mr. Speaker, those who worked with Jack in the State Legislature and 
at his law practice

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agree he was larger than life with a sharp mind and keen craft. Today, 
I salute Senator Ogg's many contributions to our state and the city of 
Houston. My prayers are with District Attorney Ogg, her brother Jon 
Ogg, their spouses, Jack's three grandchildren, as well as his brothers 
Larry and Jim Ogg.
  We will dearly miss Senator Jack Ogg. They don't make 'em like Jack 
Ogg anymore.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________