Tennessee lawmakers to remember state Rep. Lois DeBerry

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

photo In this Dec. 14, 2011, photo, Rep. Lois DeBerry, D-Memphis, talks in her Legislative Plaza office in Nashville, Tenn. DeBerry, 80, died from pancreatic cancer Sunday, July 28, 2013, in Memphis.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tennessee lawmakers will remember state Rep. Lois DeBerry when they reconvene for the legislative session today.

A tribute is planned for the Memphis Democrat who died in July after a nearly five-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

DeBerry was the longest-serving member of the state House of Representatives. She also was the second African-American woman to serve in the General Assembly and the first female speaker pro tempore in the House.

Raumesh A. Akbari, a Democratic Memphis attorney, won a special election to fill the District 91 seat that DeBerry had held since 1972.