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 LEADERS:
T. Terrell Sessums
Lawyer Educator
Terrell Sessums is a lawyer who has served both as
a leader for his peers, and as a leader in our legislature
championing Florida education.
A product of the Florida public education system,
Terrell Sessums is a double degree University of Florida
Gator, obtaining his juris doctorate in Gainesville
before being admitted to The Florida Bar in 1958.
While at UF, he was president of the student body.
His time in the legislature was also marked by his
efforts to improve the state's education system,
including two major education initiatives which
have profoundly affected public education.
Terrell represented Hillsborough County
in the Florida House of Representatives from
1963-1974, including serving as Speaker of
the House in 1972-1974. He introduced and
secured enactment of legislation to establish
the Hillsborough County Expressway Authority,
the Tampa Sports Authority, the Hillsborough
County Pollution Control Commission (n/k/a the
Environmental Protection Commission) and the
Arts Council of Tampa. He also introduced and
secured the enactment of legislation authorizing
establishment of the Colleges of Medicine and
Nursing and the University of South Florida,
the Florida State Fair Authority and the Florida
Education Finance Act of 1973, which replaced
the Florida Minimum Foundation Program.
Terrell and the House committee that he chaired
developed the legislation that lowered property
taxes and established statutory limits on ad
valorum taxation that were included in the new
Florida Constitution of 1968, the first revision of
Florida Constitution since 1885 He served as a
member of joint senate/house committees that
completed the final draft of the new constitution
and the revision of Article V, the judiciary article
of the Florida
Constitution,
which was
adopted in 1972.
As a lawyer,
he earned an
AV rating by his peers, the highest available from
Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, chaired the
Florida Bar Legislation Committee, chaired the
Florida Bar Workers' Compensation Section, served
as President of the University of Florida College
of Law Alumni CounCil, as Special Counsel to U.S.
Senator Bob Graham, and was a member of the
Federal JudIcial Nominating Commission of Florida
(Middle District Panel).
 His time in the legislature was also marked by
his efforts to improve the state's education system,
including two major education initiatives whIch
have profoundly affected public education. First
was the accountability movement, pioneered
in Florida, which required school children to be
regularly tested. Second, was the enactment of
the Florida Education Finance Act of 1973 to substantially equalize
and to provide more
adequate funding for
Florida Public Schools
with greater support
from the state.
Terrell has long
been a children's
advocate, ranging
from leadership roles
in the Florida PTA
to chairing Florida's
Board of Regents,
the governing board
of Florida's State
University System. He has also been a leader in
independent higher education, having served
as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at the
University of Tampa and later as the Chairman of
the Board of Trustees at Florida Southern College
in Lakeland, a college affiliated with the United
Methodist Church of which he has served as the
Lay Leader of the Florida Annual Conference.
His contributions have been recognized by
the awarding of four honorary degrees, the
distinguished service award from the Florida
Association of Colleges and Universities, and
the Francis Asbury award for service to Higher
Education by the Florida Conference at the
United Methodist Church. He has also heen
recognized by the naming of a Hillsborough
County Elementary School in his honor and
by the naming of the Terrell Sessums Mall at
the University of
South Florida.
Terrell and Neva
Steeves were married
in Jacksonville on
August 16, 1958.
They were students
at the University
of Florida at the
time they met:
Neva in the College
of Education; Terrell,
who had returned
to Gainesville after
Military Service
as a Captain in
the U.S.A.F, in the
College of Law. They have three children, Tom
(Thomas Terrell, Jr.), Richard H. and Sandra S.
Slayton, and five grandchildren. Terrell's hobbies
have included sailing, tennis, travel, reading
and hiking. Neva, a former public school teacher,
PTA officer and Chair of the Hillsborough County
School District Advisory Council, has been Terrell's
partner in education causes, and the nurturer and
supporter of their family and church.
Terrell's law practice focuses on assisting
clients at the Salem Law Group with their
business and government advocacy needs.
Last year marked his 50th anniversary of both
practicing law and being married, which his
firm described as celebrating one hundred years
of service.
Steve Sessums, Terrell's brother, recalls that
when they were kids, Terrell originally wanted
to be an architect, and spent hours designing
and drawing. Steve observes that Terrell's careful,
meticulous and thorough approach carried over to
his public service, to mastering the details in public
education and funding issues in the legislature,
and then with the boards on which he served.
Former law partner Dallas Albritton says Terrell
is not only a great lawyer, but a great human
being. He describes Terrell as sensitive to needs
of people, especially those who need a break, and
observes Terrell is very generous in giving of his
time and money.
Judge Paul Danahy has known Terrell since
law school, and observes that beyond being a
top notch lawyer, he is a "truly honorable person
and outstanding leader whose public service has
affected so many of our citizens in a positive way
on the state and community level. He has an
orderly, organized mind, and the
ability to bring people together
to accomplish a goal." |
 Author:
Raymond T (Tom) Elligett, Jr,
Buell & Elligett, PA |
 Source:
Lawyer
Hillsborough County Bar Association
March 2009 |
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