LAS VEGAS (AP) – Former President Barack Obama commemorated late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday as a man “who got things done,” as Democratic leaders gathered to recall Reid – often laughingly – as a man whose impatience for pleasantries was part of a drive to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.
The turnout at Reid’s Las Vegas memorial service testified to his impact on some of the most important legislation of the 21st century, despite coming from a childhood of poverty and deprivation in Nevada. President Joe Biden escorted Reid’s widow, Landra Reid, to her seat at the outset of services, before an honor guard bore the flag-draped casket to the well of a hushed auditorium.
Reid died Dec. 28 at home in Henderson, Nevada, at 82 of complications from pancreatic cancer.
“Let there be no doubt. Harry Reid will be considered one of the greatest Senate majority leaders in history,” Biden said. Speakers credited Reid’s work on strengthening health care and on Wall Street reform and economic recovery in the wake of the 2008 recession, as part of what is considered one of the most consequential congressional sessions of modern times.
Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who described Reid to mourners as a “truly honest and original character,” spoke during an invitation-only memorial.