Don Nickles: “It is with sadness today that I note the passing of an Oklahoman, former Congressman Mike Synar, who died yesterday…”

“It is with sadness today that I note the passing of an Oklahoman, former Congressman Mike Synar, who died yesterday, Tuesday. He lost a courageous battle to cancer, which he had been fighting for several months. If anyone knew Mike Synar well, they knew that he was a courageous person and they knew that he was a fighter. Mike Synar was an active Oklahoman. He was very active in 4-H as a young man. He was a student leader at the University of Oklahoma. He attained a masters at Northwestern University, and a law degree at the University of Oklahoma in 1977. A year later at the age of 28 he was elected to Congress. He defeated an incumbent Congressman, something at that time that was seldom done. It showed that he was a very tenacious campaigner, a very energetic individual to be elected at such a young age and to defeat an incumbent at the same time. Mike Synar served in Congress for 16 years between 1978 and 1994. To say the least, he was energetic, he was outgoing, and he was passionate about many things. He had very strong convictions. And I greatly respected him because he did show the courage of his conviction on a lot of issues--a lot of issues maybe that were not the most popular in our State and in his district. But he was outgoing. He was willing to take on special interests at various times--sometimes at risk and jeopardy to his political career.”