Oil on canvas, Joseph Maniscalco, 1996, Collection of U.S. House of Representatives

FORD, William David, a Representative from Michigan; born in Detroit, Wayne County, Mich., August 6, 1927; attended Henry Ford Trade School, Melvindale High School, Nebraska State Teachers College, and Wayne University; B.A., University of Denver, 1949; LL.D., University of Denver, 1951; United States Navy, 1944-1946; United States Air Force Reserve, 1950-1958; admitted to the bar in 1951; lawyer, private practice; justice of the peace, Taylor Township, 1955-1957; city attorney, Melvindale, Mich., 1957-1959; delegate, Michigan constitutional convention, 1961-1962; member of the Michigan state senate, 1962-1964; member and officer of the Sixteenth District Democratic Organization, 1952-1964; delegate, Michigan Democratic conventions, 1952-1970, and to Democratic National Convention, 1968; elected as a Democrat to the Eighty-ninth and to the fourteen succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1965-January 3, 1995); not a candidate for reelection to the One Hundred Fourth Congress in 1994; chairman, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service (Ninety-seventh through One Hundred First Congresses), Committee on Education and Labor (One Hundred Second and One Hundred Third Congresses); died on August 14, 2004, in Ypsilanti Township, Mich.; interment in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va.