Preceded by Charles B. Henderson Succeeded by Emmet D. Boyle Preceded by Denver S. Dickerson Party Republican Party | Lieutenant Gilbert C. Ross Role Former Governor of Nevada Succeeded by Pat McCarran Name Tasker Oddie | |
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Born October 20, 1870
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S. ( 1870-10-20 ) Resting place Lone Mountain Cemetery
Carson City, Nevada, U.S. Died February 17, 1950, San Francisco, California, United States Spouse Daisy Randal Mackeigan (m. 1916) Books Letters from the Nevada frontier Education New York University School of Law, New York University | ||
Previous office Senator (NV) 1921–1933 | ||
Tasker Lowndes Oddie (October 20, 1870 – February 17, 1950) was an American politician. He was the 12th Governor of Nevada and a United States Senator. He was a member of the Republican Party.
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Biography
Oddie was born on October 20, 1870 in Brooklyn, New York. He attended New York University Law School and came west to look after business interests of the wealthy Stokes family. He joined the Nevada Bar in 1898.
Career
Oddie moved to and made his fortune in the 1900 silver boom in Tonopah, becoming manager of the Tonopah Mining Company. He was the Nye County District Attorney from 1900 to 1902. He was a member of the Nevada State Senate from 1903 to 1906.
He served as governor between 1911 and 1915 (as he was not married at the time, his mother Ellen Oddie and his sisters acted as official hostesses). On March 17, 1911 he signed the city charter for Las Vegas. During his tenure, women got the right to vote, a state motor vehicle law was sanctioned, mining safety legislation was endorsed, and there were improvements to workmen's compensation benefits.
He married Daisy Rendall on November 30, 1916.
He was a senator from 1921 to 1933, losing his bid for a third term to Pat McCarran in 1932. Oddie won the Republican Senate nomination in 1938 but was defeated again by McCarran by a considerably wider margin than in 1932.
Death and legacy
Oddie died on February 17, 1950 in San Francisco at the age of 79. He is interred at Lone Mountain Cemetery, Carson City, Nevada. Mount Oddie near Tonopah is named after him, as is Oddie Boulevard in Reno and Sparks.