RICHMOND — The rostrum where Clerk Bruce F. Jamerson stood day after day for two decades watching over the Virginia House of Delegates was covered with a black shroud Monday. No one stood behind it.
One by one, delegate after delegate stood up on the House floor in the Capitol designed by Thomas Jefferson, their eyes tearing up and voices breaking, to pay tribute to Jamerson, the chamber’s chief historian and protector of its traditions.
Jamerson’s body was found Monday beside the James River in Powhatan County. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, officials said. He was 53.
“Jefferson himself could not have loved this place more than Bruce Jamerson,’’ said House Minority Leader Ward L. Armstrong (D-Henry), pausing occasionally to collect himself. “He loved his wife. He loved his family, but he was immersed in the House of Delegates. It was in the very fabric of his being.”
Jamerson’s death — and its cause — shocked the state’s political leaders. Condolences poured in from former governors, members of Congress and, of course, the legislators he served every day in line with the job’s official title: Clerk of the Virginia House of Delegates and Keeper of the Rolls of the Commonwealth.
“Bruce Jamerson was a State Capitol institution,” Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said. “His was a life of substance, character and meaning. . . . Our memories of him will be forever cherished.”
McDonnell ordered the state flag over the Capitol to be lowered to half-staff Monday and Tuesday.
A nonpartisan employee of the legislature, the clerk, along with staff members, track and organize thousands of bills filed by the House. During hours-long floor sessions, the clerk stands just beneath the House speaker, reading aloud bill numbers and votes.
In the House, already scheduled to convene Monday for a special session on redistricting, all official business stopped for more than an hour as delegates gave a passionate tribute to Jamerson. Dozens of staffers from both chambers circled the floor, many crying.
They swapped stories about how he always remembered to send birthday cards, usually with a “Peanuts” theme, how he led their out-of-town guests on tours of the Capitol whose renovation he helped lead, and that he mentored thousands of students through Boys State and Model General Assembly.
“Bruce embodied so much of what is good and noble about public service,” House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) said.
Jamerson had served the House for 38 sessions. In recent weeks, he had been in Richmond as legislators began debating redistricting, and had returned Saturday from a Mediterranean cruise with his family.
Police were contacted late Sunday night to search for Jamerson. They found his abandoned car at Watkins Landing along the James River, according to a statement issued Monday by the Virginia State Police.
At about 2:30 a.m. Monday, a State Police bloodhound located Jamerson’s body along a path near the river. The cause of death was confirmed by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The Washington Post generally does not report on suicides, except in cases of public figures whose deaths would be newsworthy under any circumstance.
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