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2001 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 886
On the death of Edgar Allen Prichard.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 21, 2001
Agreed to by the Senate, February 23, 2001

WHEREAS, Edgar Allen Prichard, a former mayor of the City of Fairfax and a prime mover in the development of Fairfax County over the past half-century, died on August 15, 2000; and

WHEREAS, a native of Montana, Edgar Prichard enlisted in the United States Army during World War II and served in North Africa as one of the first trained operatives of Colonel Bill Donovan's Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the CIA; and

WHEREAS, after the war, Edgar Prichard earned his law degree from the University of Virginia, settled in the City of Fairfax, and began a career with a small law firm that ultimately merged with the prominent Richmond firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe; and

WHEREAS, Edgar Prichard served on the Fairfax City Council from 1953 to 1964 and as mayor of the city from 1964 to 1968; and

WHEREAS, as mayor, Edgar Prichard hired the city’s first planning director, acquired the city's first two public parks, and shaped a compact by which Fairfax County retained office and court space in the city and operated the city's public schools; and

WHEREAS, Edgar Prichard was influential in the establishment and growth of George Mason University on the edge of the City of Fairfax, helping to overcome opposition to the University's growth and serving as rector of the George Mason University Board of Visitors from 1988 to 1991; and

WHEREAS, in 1963 Edgar Prichard was one of the two attorneys for the plaintiffs in the landmark Davis v. Mann Supreme Court case, in which Northern Virginia secured increased representation in the General Assembly under the principle of "one-man, one-vote"; and

WHEREAS, during his professional life, Edgar Prichard played a major role in the explosive growth of Northern Virginia, and there are few aspects of modern life in the area--political, economic, legal or educational--that were not strongly influenced by his actions; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly note with great sadness the passing of an exceptional Northern Virginia community leader, Edgar Allen Prichard; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Edgar Allen Prichard as an expression of the high regard in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly.