Ted Gray, former Ohio state senator who served over four decades, dies at 96

Theodore Milton "Ted" Gray, a former Republican Ohio state senator who served for more than four decades and held major leadership positions in the chamber before eventually resigning, has died. He was 96.

In a statement, Gov. Mike DeWine expressed his condolences to Gray's family and described the former senator as a "mountain of knowledge, information, and just plain common sense."

"It was my lucky break to sit right next to Senator Gray when I served in the Ohio Senate," said DeWine. "I learned so much from talking with him. He knew the history of the State Senate. And, he knew which policies had been tried before — what worked and what didn’t work."

Born in Springfield, Ohio, on Sept. 3, 1927, Gray lived in Piqua, Ohio, when he was first elected to the state Senate in November 1950 and took office in January 1951 while he was a student at Ohio State University.

In 1962, after gaining reelection to a fourth term, his colleagues elected him to be the majority leader. When he won his election to his fifth term in 1966, Gray was named the Senate's president pro-tempore, the second highest position in the Senate and one traditionally reserved for those with the longest tenure.

After Piqua was removed from his Senate district, Gray moved to Upper Arlington in order to remain in the district. He went on to win reelection in 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 and one last time in 1990. After that win, he was appointed chairman of the state Senate Finance Committee.

In February 1994, before the spring primary, Gray resigned, citing laryngitis. His voice deteriorated to the point where he had to communicate with Senate leadership by showing a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

In all, Gray served 10 consecutive terms in the Senate, marking 43 years as a state senator.

Gray remained in Upper Arlington after his retirement.

Funeral arrangement information was not available as of Wednesday.

@ShahidMeighan

smeighan@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ted Gray, former Ohio senator who served four decades, dies at 96