BATON ROUGE — Celebration of life services for Terry Wayne Gee Sr., 73, of Baton Rouge, who died May 19, 2014, in Baton Rouge, will be at 5 p.m. Sunday, June 1, 2014, at Jubans Restaurant.

Mr. Gee was born Sept. 21, 1940, in Natchez, the son of Garland and Cletus Grimes Gee.

He served three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives (1980-1992) under three separate governors, where he was instrumental in revamping Louisiana labor law as well as having a significant impact on tax control and state spending.

After his elected career, he was appointed by Gov. Mike Foster to oversee the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), the nation’s deep water oil port for offloading super tankers and sending their crude to refineries across the country.

Later, he was selected by Gov. Foster to oversee the reevaluation of the security of LOOP after the 9/11 terrorist event since the offshore oil port figured to be one of the most strategic terrorist targets in America.

He began his career as an executive in the utility industry in Northeast Louisiana and Mississippi after graduation from Louisiana Tech.

His skill and knowledge of economy and politics led him to be the executive director of associated builders and contractors in New Orleans.

He was encouraged to expand his influence over current affairs by the business leaders in Southeast Louisiana. They urged him into a career in politics, where he was elected to three consecutive terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives.

He was instrumental in rewriting laws, which brought balance to labor/management negotiations in the state. He will be remembered for his undying efforts to bring fiscal sanity to the annual budget wars in the state Capitol.

He was a powerful and influential associate and close friend to John Alario, who was Speaker of the House of Representatives. His skill, knowledge and overriding sense of fairness made him popular with many elements of the political world. His advice and guidance was sought by leaders in Washington as well as Baton Rouge.

In the Louisiana House of Representatives, he was able to move from faction as he sought to be fair to everyone. He was trusted by Democrats and Republicans to bring skill and balance to all political considerations, which made him unusually effective.

In high school in Natchez, he excelled in several sports. At Louisiana Tech, he was a varsity tennis and baseball player. He also traveled through much of his young adult life to competitions in contract bridge, where he was known to be very skillful.

In his life, his skills, intellect, sense of humor and positive attitude attracted literally hundreds of friends and he will be missed by all of them.

He was a wonderful storyteller, humorist and gentleman. He “held court” at too many establishments to mention in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and all who shared his table felt favored to spend time with him.

His “office” traveled with him and most days you could find him at work at any restaurant that had a fire blazing, talking on his phone, making deals, taking notes on paper napkins, helping friends and watching his favorite sporting event.

Mr. Gee was preceded in death by his parents.

Survivors include his companion of 40 years, Gale Stamper; one son Terry Gee Jr.; one daughter, Regina Gee; one brother, Kenny Gee; one sister, Brenda Baker; his former wife, Wanda Webb Gee; four grandchildren; and a number of friends.

All who were close to Mr. Gee considered him their best friend and he would do anything for them. The world has lost an invaluable person and heaven is blessed with his presence.