Representative from Indiana; born in Vandalia, Fayette County, Ill., March 7, 1942; attended public schools in Mount Vernon, Ind.; University of Evansville, 1962-1967; Indiana National Guard, 1966-1972; affiliated with broadcasting stations in southern Illinois and Indiana, 1959-1972; cable TV executive and legislative liaison for the Illinois-Indiana TV Association, 1974-1977; formed corporation involved in design and construction of energy-efficient and solar-heated homes and offices; member of Indiana house of representatives, 1966-1974; elected as a Republican to the Ninety-sixth and to the Ninety-seventh Congresses (January 3, 1979-January 3, 1983); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1982 to the Ninety-eighth Congress; died on September 6, 2016, in Little Elm, Tex. Deckard died Tuesday in Texas, where he had been living recently. A cause of death wasn't immediately available for the Republican who was elected in 1978 and 1980 to represent southwestern Indiana in the U.S. House after eight years in the Indiana Legislature. Deckard was running for a third congressional term when he was involved in an alcohol-related crash in 1982 and lost to Democrat Frank McCloskey. The Evansville Courier & Press reports Deckard was a solar energy advocate in Congress and helped start local environmental advocacy group Valley Watch. Deckard later moved to Florida and wrote a 2010 online book in which he described smuggling Brazilian immigrant families into Canada.
| Types | Person, Political Candidate, Elected Representative |