This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Farris Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/GeV.2ACEB/1816 Message Board Post: Hamilton Journal News (OH) August 8, 2003 William W. Farris National Obituary Former Senator Farris dead at 79 Memphis, Tenn. William W. Farris, a former Tennessee state senator and prominent Democrat from the 1960s through the 1980s, died Thursday. He was 79. Farris suffered a broken neck after falling at his home last week, longtime friend Homer Branan told The Commercial Appeal newspaper. Farris, an attorney, lost his two highest profile races, for governor and Memphis mayor. But as an 18-year member of the Tennessee Board of Regents Farris played an important role in the development of higher education in the state before leaving in 1996. Farris was appointed to a state Senate seat in March 1969 to fill an unexpired term that ended the next year.