A celebration of former state Rep. Sherman Parker’s life will be held at Austin Layne Mortuary, 7239 West Florissant at 8:30 a.m. Friday (Sept. 26) and his burial will be held immediately after the service.
Parker, the first African-American elected to the state House from St. Charles County, died Thursday night at Barnes-Jewish Hospital after suffering a brain aneurysm. He was 37.
Serving from 2003-06, Parker took on U.S. Rep. Todd Akin in the Republican Primary in 2006.
Remembered as being friendly and a maverick from some GOP policies, Parker was one of six House Republicans to oppose the 2005 Medicaid cuts that eliminated coverage for hundreds of thousands of Missourians.
Parker sponsored legislation that would give local police the power to confiscate weapons from domestic violence incidents and prohibit those under a restraining order or convicted of domestic violence from owning firearms.
Born in St. Louis, Parker graduated from Affton High School and worked at Merrill Lynch before becoming a volunteer for then-Gov. Gov. William Weld (R-Mass.), who was running for the U.S. Senate.
He was secretary of the St. Louis Transitional Hope House Inc. In 2002, the Missouri Federation of Young Republicans named him Young Man of the Year.
He was also named one of the region’s most influential minority business leaders by the St. Louis Business Journal.
State Treasurer Sarah Steelman called Parker “an outstanding person and friend.”
“Sherman wasn’t interested in the easy way and was usually swimming upstream against the powers that be, and always fighting for the people.”
Keith Savage, a black business owner and friend of Parker’s, said the late former legislator “was about serving the black business community. And not just the business community.”
“It wasn’t about being a Republican or a Democrat. It was about working for his community.”
Among the survivors are his wife and daughter, his mother and a grandmother.