April 20, 2024 at 5:27 p.m.
by Frank E. Lockwood , Grant Lancaster
Friends of former U.S. Sen. David Pryor are mourning his passing, and politicians past and present are paying tribute to his decades of service to the state of Arkansas.
The Camden native, who died Saturday at age 89, sought public office 13 times, losing only once.
“He was, in my opinion, the most beloved political figure of our time,” said James Luin “Skip” Rutherford III, a former Pryor staffer.
Rutherford, a Pryor supporter since 1972, volunteered for Pryor’s successful 1978 U.S. senate race, later working as director of Pryor’s Little Rock office. He also followed Pryor as dean of the Clinton School of Public Service.
“A lot of his former staff people called him ‘DP,’ and DP brought out the best in people,” Rutherford said Saturday. “[He] was a consistent voice for the underdog, for the elderly who had no voice in the nursing homes, for civil rights, for the poor. … He always reached out to the least among us — and even after hard-fought elections, he was a healer. He didn’t demonize those who disagreed with him but instead reached across party and philosophical lines for the common good. I’ve said on many occasions, ‘Everyone had a seat at David Pryor’s table and he was Arkansas at its best.'”
Friends portrayed Pryor as a gifted leader with unsurpassed campaigning skills.
“He was unique in his ability to engage with people and engender their trust. He was a good listener and a good storyteller — a great storyteller,” said Thomas F. “Mack” McLarty III, Pryor’s longtime friend and a former White House chief of staff.
“Even if you disagreed with him, you came away feeling that you’d been treated with warmth and authentically and [with] respect and that he’d listened to your point of view,” McLarty said Saturday.
Fellow Arkansan and former President Bill Clinton in a written statement on Saturday reflected on his 58-year-long friendship with Pryor, whom he called a champion of progressive and compassionate policies and “one of the finest people I have ever known.”
“Having him and Dale Bumpers in the senate when I was president was an extraordinary gift,” Clinton wrote. “I never felt far from home, and always trusted the unvarnished advice he gave, especially when the going got tough.”
Many friends and colleagues praised Pryor’s ability to reach across party lines without spite, and on Saturday Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders praised Pryor in a written statement.
“His career defied easy definition: a man with deep roots in Ouachita County who reached the heights of influence in Washington; a Solid South Democrat who stood strong against the Faubus machine; the architect of an Arkansas political dynasty who was just as comfortable in a Camden lumber yard as the Cambridge quad,” Sanders wrote.
Arkansans can thank Pryor for “his role in burying the divisive racial politics that infected Arkansas government before his tenure,” Sanders wrote.
Sanders’ predecessor, Republican Asa Hutchinson, said Saturday that Pryor had “a personal, a human touch, that endears him to all Arkansans.”
In his post on X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday, Hutchinson went on to laud Pryor as a “quintessential public servant” who elevated the public debate on issues facing the state’s residents.
Several members of Arkansas’s congressional delegation, who are all Republicans, paid tribute to Pryor on Saturday.
Like many others, Sen. John Boozman in a statement remembered Pryor as a servant and a force for progress in the state.
“Arkansas has benefited tremendously from his dedicated stewardship as a legislator, governor and citizen deeply invested in helping ensure our best days were still ahead,” Boozman wrote.
Pryor should be an inspiration to all Arkansans, Sen. Tom Cotton wrote in a statement.
“David Pryor was a true gentleman and a statesman who dedicated more than a half century of his life to the service of our state and nation,” Cotton wrote.
Rep. Bruce Westerman in a statement remembered his time working as an intern in Pryor’s office despite their political differences.
“The intentional investments he made in my life, and that of many other Arkansans, have been instrumental in the growth of our great state,” Westerman wrote. “David Pryor’s absence will be greatly felt by many, but his legacy of leadership will serve as an inspiration for years to come.”
Pryor will no doubt go down as one of the state’s best governors and be ranked among the finest of U.S. senators, wrote Archie Schaffer III, founding chairman of the Pryor Center at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
“He was simply a fabulous public servant and a model for Arkansas elected officials to emulate for decades to come,” Schaffer wrote.
Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr., in a post on Facebook, called Pryor “a pillar of public service” who set an excellent example for those who came after him.
Almost every post or statement touched on Pryor’s caring personality and ability to make the people who met him feel like he cared deeply about them.
In a Saturday post on Facebook, former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel recalled the happiness showed by his grandmother, who couldn’t leave the house to meet “DP” when he was in town, after Pryor suggested stopping by to visit.
“That was the magic of DP,” McDaniel wrote. “For his entire life, he shared his light and goodness with other people as he worked to help make their lives better. He could make you feel special with just his smile.”
But Pryor was also humble, remembered 16th Division Circuit Judge Morgan “Chip” Welch in a post on Facebook in which he recounted sitting next to Pryor on a flight to Washington, D.C., some 30 years ago.
“He rather shyly introduced himself to me (like I wouldn’t have known)!” Welch wrote.
Pryor wrote notes as they talked, Welch wrote, and was eager to point out other politicians on the plane and talk about what they did in Washington.
“He said no cross words about any of them, though some were not of his party, but then he wouldn’t have,” Welch wrote.
Former U.S. Rep. Vic Snyder, a Democrat from Little Rock, said Pryor served Arkansas and Arkansans well.
“No superlative is good enough. He was an absolutely wonderful, wonderful human being, a wonderful man, a great public servant, a delight to be around,” Snyder said. “He had a long, robust and productive life and we were fortunate to have him.”
Arkansas Sen. Clarke Tucker, a Little Rock Democrat, remembered in a Facebook post Pryor’s role as a mentor during his formative teenage years, and said Pryor changed millions of lives without those people ever knowing Pryor’s name.
“Arkansas has lost a giant,” Tucker wrote. “There is only one David Pryor. The epitome of a statesman. No one was more humble. No one was more civil. No one loved Arkansas and our people more.”
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