AUSTIN, Texas – The state and nation have lost a fierce advocate for conservative ideas with the untimely death of Tex Lezar, said the chairman of the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Board of Directors. Lezar died January 5 of a heart attack; he was 55.

“Mr. Lezar was one of the brightest legal minds and best defenders of free market, limited government ideas to have graced Texas,” said Wendy Gramm, Ph.D. “I know that our president, Brooke Rollins, and her predecessor, Jeff Judson, were honored to follow in the footsteps of one of Texas’ most well-respected leaders.”

Lezar served as the Foundation’s president and chief executive officer in the early 1990s, and was integral in the founding of the organization. Lezar also served in President Ronald Reagan’s Department of Justice, and was named chairman of the Washington, DC-based Empower America.

While serving as the Foundation’s president, Lezar wrote “Making Government Work,” a landmark book outlining conservative activism and introduced by Reagan.

“Under the leadership of Tex Lezar… the Texas Public Policy Foundation has brought together specific proposals by some of the nation’s best authorities on the most important issues facing our states today,” wrote Reagan in 1994.

Speaking for the Foundation’s board of directors, Gramm offered her condolences to the Lezar family, his wife and children.