Jack Ticer; Served on Alexandria Council

John Tennesson "Jack" Ticer, 84, who served on the Alexandria City Council in the 1950s and '60s and as clerk of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee in the 1970s, died Aug. 29 of pulmonary fibrosis at Inova Alexandria Hospital. He was a lifelong resident of Alexandria.

Mr. Ticer was the son and husband of Alexandria mayors. His father, Edmund Ticer, was mayor from 1932 to 1934. His wife, Patricia S. Ticer, was mayor from 1991 to 1995 and is a Democratic member of the Virginia Senate.

Mr. Ticer was elected as a Democrat to the Alexandria City Council in 1955 and resigned after his term expired in 1958. He was elected again in 1964 and 1967 before losing a reelection bid in 1970. Considered progressive on racial matters and other social issues, he was often at odds with the prevailing conservative leanings of the Democratic Party at the time.

When he was on the City Council in the 1960s, Mr. Ticer voted against an urban renewal project that ultimately resulted in the demolition of three blocks of Old Town Alexandria. He became an early leader of Alexandria's historic preservation movement and, for the rest of his life, was strongly opposed to widespread urban renewal efforts that can destroy a community's traditional urban fabric.

Mr. Ticer grew up on South Fairfax Street in Alexandria, and, except for his time in college and the military, he never lived more than seven blocks from his childhood home. He graduated in 1940 from George Washington High School and interrupted his education at the University of Virginia to serve as an Army combat engineer during World War II.

He graduated from U-Va. in 1948 and worked for many years in sales with Westinghouse Electric and Atlantic Research. In 1971, he joined the Senate Armed Services Committee as chief clerk, which was his favorite job, his wife said. With expertise in military weaponry, he became a trusted aide of the committee chairman, Sen. John C. Stennis (D-Miss.).

When Republicans took control of the Senate in 1981, Mr. Ticer left to become a management analyst with the office of the inspector general at the Defense Department. He retired in 1995.

He was a member, and later chairman, of the state board that established George Mason University. He was also a member of the National Capital Regional Planning Council and the Northern Virginia Planning District Commission.

Mr. Ticer was known for his bow ties, his courtly manner and his devotion to Alexandria's historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church, where he was a member of the vestry.

He was a former president of the Alexandria Library Company and the Washington chapter of the American Ordnance Association (now the National Defense Industrial Association).

Survivors include his wife of 51 years, of Alexandria; four children, John T. Ticer Jr. of Vienna, Catherine Ticer of San Jose, and Margaret Janowsky and Virginia Baechler, both of Alexandria; and five grandchildren.