Kent Frizzell

Kent Frizzell, former Assistant US Attorney General, Undersecretary of the US Department of the Interior, Attorney General of the State of Kansas and long-time Professor and Director of the National Energy Law and Policy Institute at the University of Tulsa College of Law, died on October 26, 2016. He was 87.

Frizzell was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, attended Northwestern University on a Methodist oratory scholarship, received a degree in economics from Friends University in Wichita, and graduated from law school at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. He spent four years in the US Marine Corps Reserve. He returned to Wichita to practice law before beginning a notable political career that took him from his home town to Washington, D.C. to serve as a key member of the Nixon and Ford Administrations.

Kent was first elected to the Wichita School Board, then as President of the Board of Education, then Kansas State Senator, and finally Kansas Attorney General in 1968. He won every election he entered, except for the Governorship of Kansas where he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent. He was then appointed Assistant Attorney General of the US Department of Justice in 1972 by President Nixon. In 1973, Frizzell attained national prominence when he crossed the lines unarmed into the barricaded and armed Oglala Sioux encampment at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where he negotiated a conclusion to that lengthy and violent confrontation. Frizzell is the subject of a famous iconic picture of the peaceful conclusion he fashioned, shaking hands in a Sioux teepee with Russell Means, leader of the American Indian Movement. From 1974 to 1977, he served as Solicitor of the Department of the Interior where he played a major role in the development of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. From 1975 to 1977, he served as Undersecretary and for a time as Acting Secretary of Interior. Later he was a member of the Reagan-Bush Transition Team in 1980-81.

After he left government service Frizzell moved to Tulsa to be Director of the National Energy Law and Policy Institute, newly created by the TU Board of Trustees, where he served for 18 years. He was a tenured Professor of Energy Law and a Professor Emeritus. During this time Frizzell also served for years on the Will Rogers Memorial Commission.

As a high school student, Frizzell won the National American Legion Oratorical contest and was sought out throughout his life as a speaker of great magnetism and humor. Friends remember the occasion he debated national energy policy with Ralph Nader at Hillsdale College. In addition to his extensive public career, Frizzell was an avid outdoorsman.

He and his wife Shirley raised five children, Greg, Damon, Kirsten, Angela, and Blaine, who brought them twelve grandchildren.

Public servant at the local, state and national level, veteran, educator, loyal husband, father, grandfather and outdoorsman - Kent Frizzell was a man for all seasons with a multitude of friends and admirers, who left a trail of competence, integrity and good humor from Wichita to the nation’s capital and back to Tulsa.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am, Monday, November 7 at Sharp Chapel at The University of Tulsa.

Donations may be made to the Home of Hope, PO Box 903, Vinita, Oklahoma, 74301, or online at www.homeofhope.com/Ways to Give. Please request that funds be directed to the Key to Hope endowment.