Henry Evans Howell, Jr., was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on September 5, 1920. Mr. Howell married the former Elizabeth McCarty of Portsmouth and Crewe, Virginia. They had three children: Mary, Hank and Susan. Howell graduated from Maury High School in 1938. After attending the Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary (now Old Dominion University), Howell entered the Law School of the University of Virginia. He graduated with an LL.B. degree in 1943. Howell first practiced law in West Palm Beach, Florida, but returned to Norfolk after several years. He served as law clerk to U.S. District Court Judge Sterling Hutcheson and Albert V. Bryan, and in 1948 he became associated with R. Arthur Jett with whom he formed the law firm of Jett, Sykes, and Howell in 1950. He formed a new firm - Howell, Anninos, and Daugherty (now Howell, Anninos, Daugherty, and Brown) in 1959. Mr. Howell specialized in admiralty and tort law. Howell first became involved in politics during Francis Pickens Miller's unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1949. In 1952 he served as co-manager in Norfolk for Miller's unsuccessful primary battle against Senator Harry F. Byrd. He later headed the "Volunteers for Stevenson-Kefauver" in Norfolk. Howell first ran for political office in 1953 when he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Democratic primary for one of Norfolk's seats in the House of Delegates. His subsequent campaigns which made him one of the best known political figures in Virginia brought him his share of notable victories and bitter disappointments. His successes include election as a Democrat to the House of Delegates in 1959 and 1963 and to the State Senate in 1965 and 1967, and election to the Lt. Governor's office in 1971 as an independent. Howell's disappointments include a narrow loss for re-nomination in the 1961 Democratic primary in Norfolk, a loss to William C. Battle by less than 2% of the votes for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1969, and a razor-thin loss in 1973 when he ran for Governor as an independent against Republican Mills Godwin. Howell was always a "maverick" in terms of traditional Virginia politics. He was a liberal in a basically conservative state, pro-labor in a state which strongly favors right-to-work laws, a representative of an urbanized, industrialized district in a state legislature long dominated by politicians from rural areas - the remnants of the "Byrd machine." His survival as a viable political figure under these circumstances seems attributable to his avowed stance as a "populist," a champion of the ordinary citizen against the big economic interests and their political allies. One of his key slogans was "Keep the Big Boys Honest." In 1977 Henry Howell ran for the third time for Governor of Virginia. Howell waged his usual vigorous campaign. His opponent was former Attorney General Andrew Miller in the Democratic primary.Howell received 253,373 votes (51.4%) to 239,735 (48.6%) for Miller. Howell's primary victory was attributable to support by a coalition of liberals, urban voters, Black people and organized labor. These groups tend to vote heavily in Democratic primary elections. In fact their influence in Democratic primaries is out of proportion to their number in the electorate as a whole. Henry Howell appeared confident of his success against his Republican opponent John Dalton in the fall campaign. Once again, however, he experienced defeat. In what some analysts interpreted as a referendum on Howell himself, the voters gave Dalton a victory by 157,983 votes. Dalton received 55.9% (699,302 votes) to Howell's 43.3% (541,319 votes). Nonetheless, Howell remained prominent in the liberal faction of Virginia's Democratic Party and strongly supported President Jimmy Carter for re-election in 1980. Henry Howell died at his home in Norfolk on July 7, 1997.