The Reverend Dr. Christopher D. Girata escorts Pam Luce, widow of the late Tom W. Luce III, from Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church sanctuary following a service for her husband in Dallas, August 15, 2026. The influential Dallas attorney, public policy reformer, and civic leader passed away at the age of 86.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
Across Texas, Tom Luce was known as an influential lawyer and public servant. To his family, he was simply “Pawpaw.”
Family members, friends and civic leaders gathered Saturday for his funeral at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas.
Luce died of cardiac arrest July 25 in Telluride, Colorado, where he had traveled for his grandson’s wedding. He was 86.
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Related: Tom Luce, prominent Texas attorney and public servant, dies at 86
The Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Girata, rector of the church, welcomed mourners before reflections from Luce’s daughter, Ellen Luce Tucker; his grandson, Thomas Luce IV; and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a San Antonio Republican who led the chamber from 2009 to 2019.
Among those attending were Ross Perot Jr., chairman of Hillwood and The Perot Companies, and members of his family. Luce was a longtime adviser and personal attorney to Perot’s father, Ross Perot Sr., and worked closely with both generations on business and civic endeavors.
Pam Luce, his wife of more than 66 years, attended with their family.
Looking across the church, Tucker recalled one of her father’s rules: Show up for funerals and weddings, and arrive early.
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“My dad’s faith was the foundation of everything,” Tucker said.
His faith shaped his family life and the causes he pursued, she said. Tucker remembered a father who helped her recognize gifts she could not see in herself, then showed her how to use them in service to others.
“My dad never sat me down and had a gospel conversation with me,” she said. “Rather, he gave me a vision of the gospel day in and day out.”
Straus described Luce as a trusted counselor who could turn ambitious ideas into lasting institutions.
Thomas Luce, IV speaks about his late grandfather Tom W. Luce III during a service for him at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, August 15, 2026. The influential Dallas attorney, public policy reformer, and civic leader passed away at the age of 86.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
Luce was the founding and managing partner of Hughes & Luce. As chief of staff of the 1984 Texas Select Committee on Public Education, he helped advance reforms that included the state’s “no pass, no play” rule.
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He later served as assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development at the U.S. Department of Education under President George W. Bush. He was also the founding CEO of the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute and the founder and chairman emeritus of Texas 2036.
Straus called Luce an architect of the most significant public education reforms in Texas since desegregation.
“He simply needed an opportunity to make the lives of others better,” Straus said. “And then he took it from there.”
Luce’s approach was straightforward, Straus said: See a problem clearly, bring the right people together and keep working until progress was made.
“There are two types of people: those who walk into a room and say, ‘Here I am,’ and those who say, ‘Ah, there you are,’” Straus said. “Tom was a ‘there you are’ person. He was always more interested in you, and he made you feel that.”
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To his family, Luce’s legacy could be found in traditions far removed from government and public policy.
Former Texas House speaker Joe Straus speaks about his late friend Tom W. Luce III during a service for him at Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, August 15, 2026. The influential Dallas attorney, public policy reformer, and civic leader passed away at the age of 86.
Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News
“Lawyer. Public servant. Trusted adviser. Problem solver. Mentor,” Thomas Luce IV said. “But to our family, he was something far more important.”
“He was simply Pawpaw,” he said. “Our hero. Our mentor. My biggest fan. Our best friend.”
Luce called his seven grandsons the “Magnificent Seven.” When each turned 10, Luce and his wife, Pam, took him on a trip. Thomas Luce IV recalled visiting Chicago, Wrigley Field and an ESPN studio with his grandparents.
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“At 10 years old, it just felt like an incredible trip,” he said. “But looking back at it now, I realized he was giving us something far more valuable: his undivided time.”
In the weeks before his death, Luce spoke about two things he still hoped to do, his grandson said: return to Hawaii’s Big Island and attend Thomas and Madison Luce’s wedding.
He did not make it back to Hawaii. But he arrived in Telluride wearing his tuxedo and ready to celebrate with his family.
“When it was Pawpaw’s time to go, he was exactly where he wanted to be,” his grandson said.
Thomas Luce IV said he found comfort knowing his grandfather’s final journey brought him to the mountains, surrounded by the family he had spent his life gathering.
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“You spent your entire life lifting others,” he said. “And now, it’s our turn. We promise to help create waves for others, just like you did for all of us.”
The Rev. Chip Edens delivered the homily. He joked that he could not imagine Luce as a “cloud sitter” in heaven for more than seven minutes.
Edens pictured Luce arriving in a pinstripe suit, introducing himself as “Tom Luce from Texas” and learning that another project awaited him.
“When’s the meeting?” Edens imagined Luce asking. “I’ll be there 15 minutes early.”
Edens said Luce believed faith had to take form through action. The biblical passages read during the service called believers to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly, he said.
“Faith, for Tom, was not something to admire,” Edens said. “It was something to believe and to live out every single day.”
Edens said Luce built institutions others could use and invested in people who would continue the work.
“He did not collect followers,” Edens said. “He cultivated successors.”
“We’ll take it from here, Tom,” Edens said near the end of the homily, adding that Luce would be “cheering us on all along the way.”