Mississippi Clarion Ledger
JACKSON, Miss. – Former Mississippi Gov, William Winter, a crusader for public education and racial harmony, has died. He was 97.
Winter died Friday night at his home in Jackson.
Winter served as governor from 1980 to 1984, and in 1982 ushered the passage of the Education Reform Act, the state s first comprehensive education overhaul.
Asked about his legacy by the Clarion-Ledger, Winter said: In general terms, I have tried to use the opportunities I have had to make this a better place than when I came along. We are all in this together.
For more than 50 years, Winter served as a member of the Mississippi State Department of Archives and History’s board of trustees, and he was instrumental in the founding of the Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi.