Reuben Senterfitt, who redefined role of Texas House speaker, dies at 96
In his 14 years as a state legislator, Reuben Senterfitt helped create one of the nation’s leading cancer research centers, expanded the state’s mental health services and public education and brought a new level of influence to the role of the Texas House speaker.
Senterfitt, a San Saba rancher and country lawyer who served as House speaker from 1951 to 1955, helped create a planning process for budgeting the state on a biennial basis — one of the main jobs of the Legislature — said Patrick Cox, a former assistant director at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas who worked on a history project about state House speakers.
Senterfitt, 96, died Wednesday in Buda after developing complications from pneumonia. He was described as a devoted and loving father to seven children and a champion of state services and military veterans after World War II.
“He helped expand the influence of the speaker’s office, he helped improve services — particularly in mental health and in education — and he really was a very positive force in state politics during his era,” Cox said. “He characterized himself as being very conservative, but he understood there was a role the government played to help protect citizens and provide some basic services that everyone needed.”
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Senterfitt, a Democrat, co-authored legislation that created the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
