Prominent attorney and civic leader Tom Luce is being remembered for contributions to his home state and beyond following the news of his death over the weekend.
Luce was raised in University Park and attended Highland Park ISD schools, as our sister publication D Magazine previously reported. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from SMU and was recognized with the SMU Law School and University Distinguished Alumni Awards.
He was known as a legal fixer for Ross Perot Sr. He helped facilitate Ross Perot Jr.’s journey around the world in the 1980s by setting up a refueling station between Asia and Alaska, helped authenticate a 700-year-old early copy of the Magna Carta for Perot Sr., also in the 1980s, that Perot’s foundation later sold for $21 million, chaired Perot’s 1992 presidential campaign, and ran for governor of Texas himself in the 1990s.
An attorney since 1965, Luce was a founding partner of the law firm Hughes and Luce, LLP (now K&L Gates).
He also served as chairman of the Texas National Research Laboratory Commission, chief justice pro tempore of the Texas Supreme Court, and delegate to the Education Commission of the States, as well as chief of staff to the 1984 Texas Select Committee of Public Education.
Luce also co-founded the National Center for Educational Accountability and served as sponsor of the Just for the Kids School Improvement Model. He chaired the board for both organizations from their inceptions until 2005, according to Texas 2036.
He was appointed assistant secretary for the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development at the U.S. Department of Education by former President George W. Bush in 2005.
Bush called Luce “a great Texan” in a statement released by the George W. Bush Presidential Center July 26.
“Tom was a champion of education reform. He believed that every child had potential and deserved the right to read and succeed. Without Tom, Texas would not be the powerhouse that it is. Laura and I send our heartfelt condolences to the Luce family — including Pam and their three children and beloved grandchildren — as they remember this good man and celebrate the marriage of their grandson,” the statement read.
In recent years, Luce founded the nonpartisan think tank Texas 2036 and helped lead Lyda Hill Philanthropies’ biotech initiatives.
“It is with profound sorrow that we learned of the passing of Tom Luce, Texas 2036’s founder and chairman emeritus. Tom was a visionary leader whose dedication to public service transformed the lives and opportunities of millions of people across our state. He firmly believed in the power of Texans coming together to address the big challenges vital for future generations to thrive, inspiring significant action and driving meaningful change across his lifetime,” Texas 2036 President and CEO David Leebron said in a statement. “Texas 2036 would not exist without Tom’s desire to unite Texans in favor of a better tomorrow. How we work every day is guided by this vision and the values of the man behind it. While we grieve this immense loss, we honor Tom’s legacy by carrying forward the mission of improving the lives and opportunities of all Texans.”
Former Texas 2036 CEO and current CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center Margaret Spellings also paid tribute to Luce in a post.
“I was one of so many people whose careers were shaped by Tom’s passion for education reform. He gave me my start in 1984 when he hired me to staff a special committee of the Texas legislature, which led to major education legislation. When I became U.S. secretary of education, I brought Tom to the department to help create a coordinated policy team to implement No Child Left Behind, laying the groundwork for improved math and reading skills for millions of students,” Spellings wrote. “Tom later founded, and was founding chair of, Texas 2036 to share his vision for what could be possible if Republicans and Democrats worked together to set a better path for the future. He hired and mentored me as CEO, which he graciously continued to do when I moved on to the Bipartisan Policy Center. The outsized role Tom played in improving education in our country can be measured in part by the organizations he started and supported — the Texas Business and Education Coalition, Just for the Kids, the Data Quality Campaign, the National Center for Educational Accountability, and the National Math and Science Initiative, among so many others. But the measure of the man is best considered by the fact that he was a wonderful husband to my dear friend Pam, a great father to his three children and grandfather to his seven grandsons, and a generous friend.”
Luce also served on the boards of various community and charitable organizations, including the Texas Education Reform Caucus, the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, Advanced Placement Strategies, Education is Freedom and the Foundation for Community Empowerment, and on the Executive Committee of the Dallas Citizens Council.
Among his accolades over the years are receiving the J. Erik Jonsson Ethics Award, the Center for Non-Profit Management Social Entrepreneur Award, the Dallas Historical Society Excellence in Community Service Award, and the CASA Award for Service to Children.
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