George Cowden

George Cowden
Chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas
Chairman of the Texas Board of Insurance

George Malcolm Cowden (born December 29, 1930) is a Texas lawyer and politician who served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1963 to 1967, and was the second chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas from 1978 to 1982.

Early life, education, and military service

Born in San Antonio, Cowden "spent early years raising cattle and doing ranch work on the 21,500-acre spread his father ran near Pearsall".^[1] After graduating from Pearsall High School in 1948, Cowden enrolled in John Tarleton Agricultural College in Stephenville, Texas, but "after one semester Cowden changed his mind and transferred to Baylor University",^[1] from which he received a B.A. in 1953.^[2]

Cowden then joined the United States Air Force as a lieutenant,^[2] during which time he "commanded a squadron based in Japan, a job usually held by a major".^[1] After serving for two years in the Air Force, he returned to Baylor, from which he received an LL.B. in 1959, thereafter entering the private practice of law.^[2]

Public service

Cowden represented McLennan County, Texas, for two terms in the Texas House of Representatives, in the 58th Texas Legislature from January 8, 1963 to January 12, 1965, and in the 59th Texas Legislature from January 12, 1965 to December 31, 1966.^[3][4] He was elected to a third term in the 60th Texas Legislature in November 1966, but was never sworn in, as he instead resigned to assume the office of assistant attorney general,^[2][3] serving in that position under Texas Attorney General Crawford Martin, whose campaign Cowden had managed in 1966.^[2]

On January 15, 1968, Governor John Connally appointed Cowden chairman of the Texas Board of Insurance.^[2] Following the election of Governor Preston Smith later that year, Cowden left public service for a position as general counsel and senior vice president of the Great American Reserve Insurance Co.^[1][4] Then, in August 1975, Governor Dolph Briscoe named Cowden to the newly established Public Utility Commission of Texas, along with William Garrett Morris and Alan Erwin.^[5]

Personal life and death

Cowden married Mollie Waldrop of Jackson, Tennessee, with whom he had four children.^[2] In 2012, Cowden's son Gordon was the oldest victim of the 2012 Aurora theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado.^[6]

References

1. Jim Dolan, "Casual George Cowden moving to Austin", San Antonio Express (January 13, 1976), p. 1, 4.
2. Sam Wood, "George Cowden Takes Oath for State Office", The Waco News-Tribune (February 2, 1968), p. 5.
3. "Legislative Reference Library | Legislators and Leaders | Member profile". lrl.texas.gov.
4. "Commission members consumer advocates", The Waxahachie Daily Light (August 24, 1975), p. 6.
5. "Briscoe Names Utility Board", Pampa Daily News (August 22, 1975), p. 1.
6. "One victim a Howard Payne graduate", Abilene Reporter-News (July 24, 2012), p. 8A.