Robert H. and Velma H. Threadgill

Gene attended Georgetown University Law School at night, worked for several government agencies as a clerk and then an economist. He graduated in 1944 and then served as the first law clerk at the DC Court of Appeals. In 1946, his UF math professor, Dr. Joseph Kusner, was appointed president of the newly established Farragut College in Idaho. Gene taught psychology, economics and an introductory law course. He then got into the gas/electric regulatory world, and during the 1960s represented several small public utilities in Florida. In 1973, after serving as the first Assistant General Counsel of the newly created Postal Rate Commission, Gene filed a petition with the PRC on behalf of the Democratic and Republican National Parties, requesting that political mail be given non-profit status. Attached to the petition was the testimony of Dr. Manning Dauer (for the Democrats) and Republican Chairman George H.W. Bush. That petition was rejected, but Gene testified before Congressional committees, which finally gave non-profit status to some political mail. In 2000, Gene was given the Patrick Henry Award for Outstanding Public Service by the Governor of Virginia.