Beryl Anthony Jr., a former U.S. House representative from El Dorado known for his staunch advocacy of Arkansas needs and his ability to work across party lines, died Saturday morning at the age of 86, according to a funeral director at Treasure Coast Seawinds Funeral Home and Crematory in Stuart, Fla.
A graduate of the University of Arkansas, the El Dorado native returned to his hometown after he was admitted to the Arkansas bar where he served as an assistant to then-Attorney General Bruce Bennett, Union County prosecuting attorney and various other roles before being elected to Congress in 1978, replacing outgoing U.S. Rep. Ray Thornton Jr.
Throughout his seven terms representing Arkansas' 4th Congressional District, Anthony was a founding member of the Sunbelt Coalition, which monitored legislative effects on Southern states; a member of the House Ways and Means Committee; the Oversight and Trade subcommittees; and a select committee on Children, Youth and Families.
Grant Tennille, chair of the Democratic Party of Arkansas, described Anthony as a politician who focused "fairly relentlessly on the needs of average Arkansans and working people."
"I think, without question, we could certainly use more Congress people like Beryl Anthony today," Tennille told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Anthony's Democratic days can be traced back to his time as a delegate to the state's Democratic conventions from 1964 up until he was elected to Congress; while on Capitol Hill, he became heavily involved with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which he chaired from 1987 to 1991.
Noting Anthony's reform efforts related to Social Security, public financing for infrastructure improvements and expanding health care access to rural communities across the U.S., Tennille said the former congressman's dedication to "serving his constituents" made him "a little bit of an anomaly" in today's world.
Anthony "clearly understood just how important it is to continue to maintain a strong presence in Congress," Tennille said.
The representative was instrumental in Congress' attempts to address Social Security trust fund insolvency that led to the Social Security Amendments of 1983. He was also important in the passage of the Arkansas Wilderness Act of 1984, which added several forests throughout the state to the national Wilderness Preservation System.
In 1985, when Hot Springs residents were plagued with a decaying national park and downtown, Anthony worked diligently with the Hot Springs National Park Rotary Club, U.S. Sen. Dale Bumpers and U.S. Sen. David Pryor to secure funding and create a detailed plan for Fordyce Bathhouse's renovation -- which was repurposed as a visitor center.
In the early 1990s, Anthony continued to advocate for and even requested additional funding from the U.S. Department of the Interior's appropriations subcommittee when Little Rock investor Melvyn Bell pulled out of leases for five Hot Springs bath houses after performing "no measures to rehabilitate the decaying structures," the Sentinel-Record reported in 1991.
Through the Anthony Public Finance Commission -- a collection of local elected officials and finance experts created by Congress to recommend legislation that would support local governments in funding public infrastructure improvements -- Anthony was part of a bipartisan effort which led to a 1989 law making public investment in roads, schools, hospitals and other facilities more affordable.
Jamie Williams, a staffer who spent several months working for Beryl during his last term in office, said Anthony was "really focused on his duties and responsibilities as a representative."
Anthony, whose dedication to expanding rural health care opportunities for all did not go unnoticed, tasked Williams with sending out invitations to constituents and creating a schedule for "health care seminars" in his home district in Arkansas.
As a congressman Williams described as "ahead of his time" given his concern for health care, Anthony spent time traveling back and forth from Capitol Hill to southern Arkansas to gauge the communities' needs, she said.
"He really had friends on both sides of the aisle in Congress, and that's how he was able to get bills passed by working with representatives from the other party," Williams said.
Anthony "really cared about the constituents" of his district and "he wanted to do for them why they had sent him to Congress," she added.
Former U.S. Rep. Ed Bethune, a Republican who represented Arkansas' 2nd Congressional District from 1979 through 1985, said Anthony's death is a "huge loss" felt by him and his family.
Anthony was a "fun guy to be around" whose sense of humor made him "quick to laugh at a joke or any kind of circumstance," Bethune said, adding that his demeanor allowed him to "fit in anywhere."
The duo first met while studying business at the University of Arkansas and went on to complete their law degrees together. They parted ways briefly while pursuing careers in different parts of the state before their paths crossed once again when both were elected to their first terms in Congress.
An orientation program for new Congressional members and their families, which the two embarked upon in 1979 after being elected, further transformed their relationship from colleagues and friends to family.
Bethune's son, Sam, and one of Anthony's daughters, Alison, met on the orientation trip to Williamsburg, Va., and eventually married.
The couple then "had two little girls and those young girls have a unique ancestry," Bethune said. "They have one grandfather who's a Democrat congressman and one grandfather who's a Republican congressman."
Despite their political affiliations at a time "when the differences between parties were pretty district," Bethune said the two have "always been friendly" and able to work together.
"Beryl's a man who understood business and the business world, and so he was with us on several occasions in getting the Reagan agenda through and we worked on the wilderness legislation," Bethune said.
Over the next three terms, the two continued to work together and approached issues from "two different perspectives" with roots dating back several decades which made the representatives "just sort of a family within a family," he added.
John Ed Anthony, who formed consolidated wood supplier Anthony Timberlands in 1971 for which he now serves as board chairman, first met Anthony while the two were in separate fraternities at the University of Arkansas.
As distant cousins whose family ties were each rooted in competing branches of the family lumber and timber businesses, the relatives continued their competition through intramural sports in college. This transformed into a close relationship after graduation with yearly trips to play in four-ball golf tournaments in El Dorado.
"I know he (Anthony) was so very highly regarded and appreciated and I think he lived a good life and left things better than when he found it," John Ed Anthony said, describing his cousin as "very friendly," conversant and a representative who "did a hell of a job."
Former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who spent one term representing the state's 2nd Congressional District in the U.S. House before an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate, told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Anthony was an "absolutely magnificent member of Congress."
"Beryl looked after all of the issues that arose in his district and would go back to Washington and work on trying to make it better there or fix whatever was bothering people," Tucker said.
The passing of the "wonderful member of Congress" is a "real loss for not just his district, but for our state and our country," Tucker added.
Following seven terms representing The Natural State, Anthony lost the Democratic nomination to then-Arkansas Secretary of State Bill McCuen, who was defeated by Republican Jay Dickey in 1992.
Although the end of his tenure came, Anthony's work was still being felt in the years after his final term.
During a speech announcing that the infamous Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, or Brady Bill, was signed into law on Nov. 30, 1993, then-President Bill Clinton thanked Anthony, calling him one of many "members who come from difficult districts who voted for this bill."
"He (Anthony) said to me on the way in here, he said, 'If it cost my seat, it was worth it,'" Clinton said during his 1993 speech.
In the January following his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1992, Anthony began working as a partner in international law firm Winston and Strawn's Washington, D.C., office.
While practicing law, he also served on numerous boards of corporations and charities while his wife, Sheila Anthony, continued her legal career and served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission before both retired, according to an online obituary.
As the couple split their time between Hendersonville, N.C., and Palm City, Fla., Anthony remained active in local politics, youth initiatives and the outdoors, which he sought to capture as an "impassioned wildlife photographer," the obituary read.
Anthony resided in Palm City at the time of his death. He is survived by his wife and their two daughters, Alison Anthony Bethune and Lauren Anthony Cargill.