Longtime local attorney and former state representative Frank Forrest Buck, 80, passed away last Wednesday at NHC HealthCare in Smithville.
He was a fixture in DeKalb County and at the State Capital, recognizable by his leather vest, khaki pants, and blue button-down shirt, along with his boisterous voice and outgoing personality. Buck served as a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives for 36 years and was Vice-Chair of the House Transportation Committee and the Chair of the House Public Transportation and Highways Subcommittee. He served as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, a member of the House Judicial Administration Subcommittee, and the House Criminal Practice and Procedure Subcommittee.
Born to John and Georgia Baird Buck, September 26, 1943, in Trousdale County, he had one brother, John William Buck. His father, John, started out as a sharecropper and eventually owned over 500 acres of land in Wilson, Smith and Trousdale counties.
Buck graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Tennessee Technological University and graduated with a J.D. from University of Tennessee Law School. He worked as a farmer and as an attorney, owning a law practice with his wife, Lena Ann Graves Buck, also an attorney, called Buck & Buck Attorneys at Law in Smithville. He and Lena had four daughters, Kathy, Melinda, Sara and Jennifer.
In 1990, Frank Buck narrowly lost to Bill Purcell in a bid for the position of House majority leader.
He was known for efforts on ethics reform, and exposed a whiskey-for-votes racket operating in DeKalb County and helped to bring reform as a member of the DeKalb County Ethics Commission.
In 1994, he took issue with the expense of different execution methods reported by Department of Correction officials that placed a firing-squad execution at $7,000. Buck also passed legislation that resulted in the highway logo advertising seen on Tennessee highways. He was most proud of enacting the "Lemonade Stand Bill" which prevented the Tennessee Department of Health from requiring certificates of health from lemonade stands.
In 1993 and 1994, Buck introduced legislation that would have restrained lobbyists from giving gifts and paying travel expenses of members of the General Assembly, and forced more disclosure of such acts. In 1994, he sponsored a bill introduced by former Sen. Carol Rice that became known as the "cup-of-coffee" bill, which would have prevented legislators from taking so much as a cup of coffee from lobbyists. A version of it was passed in 1995—without Buck as a sponsor—with a loophole that allowed legislators to receive free meals and drinks if another legislator is invited.
In 2005, he was named Tennessean of the Year by The Tennessean newspaper for his work on ethics; Chairman of the Tennessee Judicial Council for four years; elected a Fellow by the Tennessee Bar Foundation; and the Common Cause Award for his Cup of Coffee Bill.
In February 2008, Buck announced he would not run for re-election. He passed away on January 24, 2024.
