David Pryor in care after stroke; ex-governor said to have surgery

Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor is shown in this photo.
Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor is shown in this photo.

Former U.S. Sen. David Pryor, 82, has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke in Northwest Arkansas.

The three-term Democratic senator and two-term governor was scheduled to appear Tuesday at the University of Arkansas for an event titled "Our Changed Political Landscape: A Conversation with David Pryor." But he was rushed to the hospital Monday after falling ill at his Fayetteville home.

On Tuesday, the University of Arkansas System issued a news release saying that Pryor had undergone "a surgery that appears to have been successful."

It included a statement from Pryor's son, former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor.

"Our whole family is very grateful for the care our dad has received, and we are hopeful for a full and quick recovery. We know that the next 48 hours are critical in my father's care and therefore respectfully ask that you honor our family's request for much needed privacy and refrain from any calls or visits at this time," he said. "We will issue another statement in the upcoming days and in the interim just humbly ask for your simple prayers."

Mark Pryor could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Roy Reed, the former New York Times journalist and retired UA journalism professor, had been scheduled to appear with David Pryor at Tuesday's event.

The elder Pryor's brother-in-law, Scott Lunsford, passed along the news that Pryor had been taken to Washington Regional Medical Center, Reed said.

"He was pretty upbeat [about Pryor's chances for recovery]," Reed said, in part because Barbara, Pryor's wife, had been able to summon help quickly.

"Barbara was right there when he collapsed on the floor, and she realized he was in trouble. He was in the hospital and being treated in less than an hour," Reed added.

Rather than cancel Tuesday's Hartman Hotz Lecture, Reed agreed to proceed. Instead of interviewing the former senator, he said he would talk about Pryor and Arkansas politics in the 1960s.

Reed covered segregationist Gov. Orval Faubus' administration while reporting for the Arkansas Gazette, and he chronicled the civil-rights movement while at the Times.

His time at the Gazette coincided with Pryor's early years in Little Rock.

Born in Camden in 1934, Pryor graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1957, then returned to Camden and founded a newspaper, the Ouachita Citizen. In 1960, he was elected to the state House of Representatives, winning re-election in 1962 and in 1964, the year he graduated from the University of Arkansas law school and began to practice law.

In 1966, he won a special election to Congress, serving until January 1973.

After losing a race for U.S. Senate in 1972, Pryor won races for governor in 1974 and 1976. In 1978, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, the first of his three terms.

Since leaving Capitol Hill in 1995, the elder Pryor has remained active in civic and political affairs, including a stint as chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas after the August 2008 murder of Chairman Bill Gwatney.

Pryor, who currently serves as vice chairman of the UA System's board of trustees, has had health problems for decades.

In April 1991, he suffered a heart attack at his Washington home. He subsequently launched a diet and exercise program and gave up smoking.

In November 1992, he underwent triple-bypass surgery at University Hospital in Little Rock. His hospitalization came just days after then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's election as president. The president-elect and his running mate, vice president-elect Al Gore, visited him at the medical facility while he was recuperating.

In September 1993, Pryor was hospitalized at George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., after suffering from a respiratory infection.

In October 2006, after suffering a heart attack in Little Rock at his other home, he underwent bypass surgery.

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, who underwent emergency heart surgery in April 2014, was one of the first leaders to react to news of Pryor's stroke.

"I'm very saddened to hear the news about David Pryor, whose legacy of service to the people of Arkansas during his time as governor and as a U.S. Senator is undeniable," the Republican from Rogers said in a written statement.

Boozman said he and his wife, Cathy, "are praying for his full and speedy recovery and encourage every Arkansan to keep the Pryor family in their thoughts and prayers."

Metro on 10/12/2016

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