O.C. Pleasant remembered for his steady nature, smile
Mr. O.C. Pleasant Jr., the longest serving commissioner in the history of the Shelby County Election Commission, died Sunday after his second stroke, family said.
“He was a loving, caring father,” said his son, Darryl Pleasant. “He was a great achiever and educator. He was a great mentor.”
Mr. Pleasant joined the Shelby County Election Commission in 1979. He remained on the commission until 2009 and spent most of those years as chairman.
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland tweeted Monday that “Memphis lost a good man.”
“His long-time public service as chair of the election commission will be remembered for his honesty and steadfastness; he brought credibility to the election process,” Strickland tweeted.
Mr. Pleasant, 76, worked in the insurance industry for about 15 years and also chaired the board of the Orange Mound Development Corporation. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi, he was a recipient of one of the fraternity’s highest awards.
“His leadership and dedication to the Orange Mound Development Corporation over the past 24-plus years and contributions to the city of Memphis are well documented, and will he will be dearly missed,” the Orange Mound Development Corporation posted on Facebook.
Roshun Austin, who led the corporation until 2004, said she remembers Mr. Pleasant as a father figure.
“He was tough,” she said. “He challenged me a lot. Looking back on that I’m grateful, because it helped me grow.”
Several people said Mr. Pleasant will be remembered as someone who had the right demeanor for a sometimes difficult job on the election commission.
Mr. Pleasant was chair in 1991 during the contentious mayoral race that ended with Willie Herenton becoming Memphis’ first black mayor. He was also chairman during a 1998 election when there was an equipment failure.
“O.C. was calm and he was polite and he kept everyone satisfied,” said David Upton, who knew Mr. Pleasant through serving with the local and state Democratic Party.
Upton said he believes Mr. Pleasant could have run for and won political office, but that he was content with his roles in the insurance industry and on the election commission.
“He was always laughing and smiling,” Upton said. “When I think about him, I think about him with a big smile on his face. Everyone who met him and dealt with him just thought the world of him.”
Bobbie White, former administrator of elections for Shelby County, said Mr. Pleasant’s three decades on the commission included significant changes in technology used for voting as well as “a lot of controversy.”
“No one could have shown more respect, stayed calm and collected. I don’t know how he did it,” she said of the 1991 election.
Mr. Pleasant was astute in election law and meticulous about meeting deadlines and running the commission in a way that was fair to everyone, she said.
White also said she’ll remember how he often answered queries about how he was with a smile and a single word: “Pleasant.”
Katherine Burgess covers county government and the suburbs. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.