BOWLING GREEN — Delbert L. Latta, a former U.S. representative who served 30 years in Congress, died today in Wood Haven Nursing Home. He was 96.
Mr. Latta, a Republican, held the 5th District House seat from 1959 to 1989. He was known during his 30-year tenure in congress for running his office on a shoestring and keeping close contact with constituents by returning home to the district in northwest Ohio — now represented by his son Bob Latta — most weekends.
Local elected officials reacted with sadness to the news of his death today.
“We have lost a tremendous public servant and iconic defender of liberty,” said state Sen. Randy Gardner (R, Bowling Green). “No one fought harder for the people he was privileged to represent than Del Latta. So much can be said about his wonderful legacy. For now, thank you Congressman for your life of service, and thank you to the Latta family for sharing this patriot with us.”
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine recalled how Mr. Latta helped him as a young Congressman.
"Fran and I were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Congressman Del Latta. When I was first elected to Congress, Del was the senior Republican in the Ohio Congressional delegation, and he went out of his way to help me learn about Congress and how to best serve the people of my district. I admired him greatly. He was a man of principle who never wavered from his core values. He was someone who knew how to get things done for the citizens of his northwest Ohio district and the American people. Fran and I send our thoughts and prayers to his family at this sad time."
Mr. Latta was born March 5, 1920, in Weston and a 1938 graduate of McComb High School. From 1938-40, he attended Findlay College. He received a bachelor of law degree in 1943 and a bachelor of arts degree in 1945 from Ohio Northern University. He began to practice law in 1944 in Bowling Green.
Mr. Latta became a member of the Ohio National Guard and, in 1940, the unit was activated as part of the Army’s 37th Infantry Division. He was in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1942 and 1943.
He first was elected to the Ohio Senate in 1952 and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1958.
He served during seven presidencies, from the last two years of the Eisenhower administration through the Reagan administration. At his retirement after 15 terms in January, 1989, he was dean of the Ohio congressional delegation, ranking minority member of the House Budget Committee, and a member of the House Rules Committee.
He retired at the end of his 15th term, announcing in January, 1988, that he would not see re-election. He was then ranking minority member of the House Budget Committee and a member of the House Rules Committee.
Upon his retirement, he donated his congressional papers to the Center for Archival Collections at BGSU.
He was appointed in 1992 to the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees by Gov. George Voinovich. Mr. Latta was edged out of a slot a year earlier when Mr. Voinovich instead appointed Tom Noe, even then a Republican contributor, to the board. Mr. Latta’s term expired in 2001, and he served as chairman of the board during his tenure.
He received honors for his service well into retirement. In May, 2004, he received a lifetime achievement award from McComb, Ohio, where he attended high school, and the village offices were renamed the Delbert L. Latta Government Center. The next month, the Bowling Green post office was named — by act of Congress — the Delbert L. Latta Post Office Building, and at a ceremony his successor, U.S. Rep. Paul Gillmor (R., Old Fort) and a former colleague, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) spoke highly of his career.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Deck-Hanneman Funeral Home.
First Published May 12, 2016, 2:26 p.m.
