Tommy Irvin

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Tommy Irvin
Habersham County Board of Education
In office
1956–1958
Member of the Georgia General Assembly
In office
1958–1966
Executive Secretary to the Governor of Georgia
In office
1967–1969
Personal details
Born
Thomas Telford Irvin

(1929-07-14)July 14, 1929
Lula, Georgia, U.S.
DiedSeptember 14, 2017(2017-09-14) (aged 88)
Mount Airy, Georgia, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseBernice Frady
Children5

Thomas Telford Irvin

Commissioner of Agriculture in the United States, and the longest-serving statewide official in Georgia.[2] He was also one of the last Democrats to win statewide in Georgia until 2020, when Joe Biden won the presidential election
.

Political career

Irvin was born on July 14, 1929.[3] A Hall County, Georgia, native, Irvin was elected to his first public office as a member of the Habersham County Board of Education in 1956.[2] A Democrat, Irvin was elected to four terms in the Georgia General Assembly as a Representative from Habersham County, where he served on the House Agriculture, Education, and Appropriations Committees and chaired the House Industrial Relations Committee and the Governor's Conference on Education.[2] During this period he sponsored legislation to allow public funding of school lunch programs.[4][5] He was the Governor's Floor Leader and later served as Executive Secretary to the Governor.[2]

He was a delegate to the 2000, 2004, and 2008 Democratic National Conventions.[3]

In 2000, Irvin made his first trip to Cuba, representing Georgia agriculture in support of free trade with the country.[6]

He was elected to his 10th and final four-year term in

November 2006.[2] Rather than run for another term he retired, citing his age and Parkinson's disease as reasons for the decision.[7]

In 1998, a portion of Georgia Highway 365 was named Tommy Irvin Parkway in his honor.[4]

Controversy

Irvin's final term was not without controversy. Both Irvin and the Department of Agriculture were sued for permitting the inhumane killing of dogs and cats. In 1990, Georgia's "Humane Euthanasia Act" became one of the first laws in the nation to mandate intravenous injection of

permanent injunction prohibiting the Department from issuing licenses to shelters using gas chambers, with exceptions being made for those established before the act and those in counties with less than 25,000 residents.[11][12] After the Court decision, and issuance of the permanent injunction, Irvin continued to voice resistance to the ruling. In an interview with a south Georgia newspaper, Irvin suggested possible ways to circumvent the law, including the use of private contractors to operate gas chambers.[13] When the Department continued to license a gas chamber in Cobb County, Georgia, in violation of the court order, a second action was brought, which resulted in the Department being held in contempt.[14]
The cases received widespread coverage in the media, casting Irvin in an unfavorable light.

Personal life

Irvin grew up the child of poor sharecroppers. When his father died, Irvin quit school to take care of his mother and sisters, running the business for several years until he got into local politics.[5]

Irvin was inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame in 2007, and he and his wife funded scholarships for youth.[15]

He was a trustee at several schools, including

Truett-McConnell College.[4] Irvin also served as school board chairman and president of the Georgia School Boards Association.[2] He died at his home in Mount Airy, Georgia, on September 14, 2017, at the age of 88.[16][17]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Obituary | Thomas "Tommy" Irvin of Mount Airy, Georgia | Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, Inc". www.whitfieldfuneralhomes.com. Archived from the original on 2019-12-15.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Official biography". Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  3. ^ a b Kestenbaum, Lawrence (2009-03-24). "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Irvin". Retrieved 2009-06-10.
  4. ^ a b c Rivers, Jr., Robert E. "SR 639 - Tommy Irvin Parkway - designate". Georgia General Assembly. Georgia House of Representatives. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  5. ^ a b "After 41 years in office, Tommy Irvin prepares to step aside". The Produce News. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  6. ^ Galloway, Jim. "In rethinking Cuba policy, Donald Trump could be picking a fight with Georgia farmers". AJC. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  7. ^ Burress, Jim. "Georgia Ag. Commissioner to Retire". GPB Media. Georgia Public Broadcasting. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  8. ^ Jana Cone (March 14, 2007). "Wells: I did what I was told". Tifton Gazette. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  9. ^ "Georgia agriculture commissioner: Gassing of strays is local issue". March 14, 2007.
  10. ^ "Chesley V. Morton v. Georgia Department of Agriculture and Tommy Irvin in his Official Capacity as Commissioner" (PDF). March 12, 2007.
  11. ^ "Judge Orders Georgia to Enforce Law Preventing Use of Animal Shelter Gas Chambers". FoxNews. March 23, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  12. ^ "Judge Issues Permanent Injunction Against Illegal Use of Gas Chambers in Georgia". Animal Law Coalition. March 23, 2009. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  13. ^ "Irvin talks about gas chamber". Tifton Gazette. 2007-06-13. Retrieved 2017-09-17.
  14. ^ "Georgia in contempt for gas chamber use". The Augusta Chronicle/Associated Press. 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  15. ^ "Georgia 4-H Inductee - 2007". The National 4-H Hall of Fame. The University of Georgia and Ft. Valley State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and counties of the state cooperating. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  16. ^ "The political import of Tommy Irvin". Archived from the original on 2017-09-15.
  17. ^ Foreman, Lauren; Bluestein, Greg. "BREAKING: Longtime farms chief Tommy Irvin dies". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
Preceded by Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture
1969-2011 		Succeeded by
Gary Black
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