LUBBOCK, Texas, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Former Texas Gov. Preston Smith died Saturday at Texas Tech University Medical Center in Lubbock at the age of 91.
Only a week ago, Smith had attended a Texas Tech football game, but he entered the hospital Wednesday with pneumonia, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Smith, a Democrat, served two terms as governor from January 1969 to January 1973 and was defeated seeking a third term in 1972. He attempted a comeback in 1978, but finished third in the Democratic primary.
Smith was born March 8, 1912, in Williamson County, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Texas Tech University in 1934 and helped launch a chain of movie theaters in Lubbock.
He was elected to the Texas House in 1944 and served three terms before losing a race for lieutenant governor in 1950. He was elected to the state Senate in 1956 and served there until he began the first of three terms as lieutenant governor in 1963.
His wife, Ima, died in 1998
