CHOCTAW, Miss. A great friend to the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and to Indian Country, Senator Thad Cochran, passed away Thursday morning at his home in Oxford, Mississippi. His life of public service to every Mississippian and certainly every Choctaw tribal member during his long and esteemed career in the U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate will be well remembered and celebrated.
He faithfully served his constituents for 46 years and championed many issues for the Choctaw people and Native American Tribes while serving in distinguished positions of influence in Congress, including the Chairmanship of the Senate Appropriations and Agriculture Committees, and as a Member of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.
Through his support in Congress, the Tribe was successful in funding important institutes of government and services for the Choctaw people such as the Choctaw Justice Complex and the new Choctaw Health Center. The Senator was also a longtime advocate for crucial pieces of legislation such as the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and the Special Diabetes Program for Indians.
“Senator Cochran was a man of great dignity and honorable character,” said Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians Tribal Chief Phyliss J. Anderson. “He had a great reverence for the Choctaw people and fiercely protected the sovereign rights of Indian Nations as well as the federal trust responsibility between the U.S. Government and Tribal governments. In my numerous meetings with him over the years, I found him to be a genuinely nice man full of courtesy and kindness. He always wanted to do what was in the best interests of the Choctaw people and promote our guiding principle of self-determination.”
We mourn the passing of this wonderful friend but celebrate the life of a genuine statesman and public servant.
