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Bill Clay

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(Redirected from William Lacy Clay Sr.) American politician (born 1931) For other people with similar names, see William Clay.
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Bill Clay
Official portrait, c. 1980s
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 1st district
In office
January 3, 1969 – January 3, 2001
Preceded byFrank M. Karsten
Succeeded byLacy Clay
Personal details
BornWilliam Lacy Clay
(1931-04-30) April 30, 1931 (age 93)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse Carol Johnson ​(m. 1953)​
Children3, including Lacy
EducationSaint Louis University (BS)

William Lacy Clay Sr. (born April 30, 1931) is an American politician from Missouri. As Congressman from Missouri's first district, he represented portions of St. Louis in the U.S. House of Representatives for 32 years.

Early life and family

Clay was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Luella S. (Hyatt) and Irving Charles Clay. He graduated from Saint Louis University in 1953. Clay served in the United States Army from 1953 to 1955, and was a St. Louis alderman from 1959 to 1964. Clay served 105 days in jail for participating in a civil rights demonstration in 1963. Prior to entering Congress, Clay held jobs first as a real-estate broker and later as a labor coordinator. He worked for the union of St. Louis city employees from 1961 to 1964 and then with a steamfitters union local until 1967.

Clay married Carol Ann Johnson in 1953. They had three children, including William Lacy Clay Jr., who would succeed his father in the U.S. House. The Clay family were parishioners at the predominantly black St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis.

Politics

This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.
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Clay was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1968. He became an advocate for environmentalism, labor issues, and social justice. In 1993, Clay voted for the Family and Medical Leave Act. From 1991 until the Democrats lost control of Congress in 1995, Clay chaired the House Committee on the Post Office and Civil Service. In 2000, he retired from the House, and his son, Lacy, succeeded him.

Honors

In 1996, the William L. Clay Center for Molecular Electronics (now the Center for Nanoscience) was dedicated in his honor on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Clay is also the founder of the William L. Clay Scholarship and Research Fund, which awards college scholarships to high-school seniors living in Missouri's First Congressional District. The Fund, which is a 501(c)3 organization, has awarded scholarships since 1985.

The Poplar Street Bridge, which connects St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, was renamed Congressman William L. Clay Bridge on October 7, 2013.

William L. Clay has a star and biographical plaque on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Works

Clay has written several works of non-fiction.

See also

References

  1. "Lacy Clay ancestry". freepages.rootsweb.com.
  2. "Clay, William Lacy 1931–". Contemporary Black Biography. Encyclopedia.com. 2005. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  3. "CLAY, William Lacy, Sr". United States House of Representatives Office of the Historian. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
  4. "St. Louis bridge renamed for long-time congressman : Stltoday". www.stltoday.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  5. St. Louis Walk of Fame. "St. Louis Walk of Fame Inductees". stlouiswalkoffame.org. Archived from the original on 31 October 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2013.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded byFrank M. Karsten Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 1st congressional district
1969–2001 		Succeeded byLacy Clay
Preceded byWilliam D. Ford Chair of House Civil Service Committee
1991–1995 		Position abolished
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded byJim Cooperas Former US Representative Order of precedence of the United States
as Former US Representative 		Succeeded byLamar Smithas Former US Representative
Missouri's delegation(s) to the 91st–106th United States Congress (ordered by seniority)
91st Senate: House:
92nd Senate: House:
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103rd Senate: House:
104th Senate: House:
105th Senate: House:
106th Senate: House:
Chairs of the United States House Committee on Post Office and Civil Service
Post Office and Post Roads
(1808–1947)		 Seal of the United States House of Representatives
(Reform in the) Civil Service*
(1893–1947)
Post Office and Civil Service
(1947–1995)
NoteName shortened from Reform in the Civil Service to Civil Service in 1925.
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