Clyde Picht, former Fort Worth councilman and Vietnam veteran, dies at age 87
Former city councilman and U.S. Air Force pilot Clyde Picht, also known by his local nickname “Landslide Clyde,” died Friday night in Fort Worth.
Picht, who received a Purple Heart and two Oak Leaf Clusters while serving in the Air Force, turned 87 in December. He died suddenly in a Fort Worth emergency room and, as of Sunday, it was unclear what caused his death, his son, James Picht, said.
Picht fell in his driveway on Wednesday, but seemed to feel better by Friday, James Picht said. The family has not ruled out COVID-19 as a possibility.
Picht served as city councilman of District 6 from 1997 to 2005, and ran for mayor of Fort Worth in 2009. The “staunch conservative” supported an efficient government that did not overburden Fort Worth taxpayers, and believed in finding solutions rather than fighting about problems, fellow former Council member Donavan Wheatfall said.
“One of the pleasantries I remember was that Clyde was a constant friend and ear,” Wheatfall said. “I never felt that he was an opponent. That was one of the duties of being part of a bipartisan city. It wasn’t about whether you were a Republican or a Democrat. We used to say the only thing was the ‘Fort Worth Way.’ And the ‘Fort Worth Way’ was having a conversation, talking through the issue.”
Before he served Fort Worth, Picht served his country, eventually becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. He started out in ROTC, where he met his wife of nearly 65 years. Emeline Picht, known to her friends and family as “Tru,” was a nurse at the time and treated Picht for a hernia, James Picht said.
“Dad told his friend, ‘that’s the girl I’m going to marry,’” James Picht said. “He would walk up and down the hall, and he would claim to be in more pain than he was so she would help him walk. Three months later, they got married in 1955.”
Picht was stationed in Vietnam and Germany as a pilot, then was transferred to Fort Worth where he worked as an American Airlines flight instructor for 20 years.
James Picht said his father had always been civic-minded. Once while complaining to a friend about a local issue, his friend suggested if he cared so much, he should run for city council.
So he did — in 1997, Picht ran against incumbent Jewel Woods and beat her by only 10 votes. Someone sarcastically dubbed him “Landslide Clyde,” and the nickname stuck, his son said. While Picht did not achieve a landslide win — or a win at all — in his 2009 mayoral run, he continued to serve Fort Worth and look out for taxpayers.
Most recently, he publicly opposed what he called the mismanagement of the Panther Island project. While he voted in favor of the $360 million effort to convert the Trinity River’s downtown banks into a bustling waterfront, he criticized the project as the cost kept rising. But even while on city council, Picht was generally laid-back and did not create confrontation with his fellow council members, Wheatfall said.
“He was always really, really respectful,” Wheatfall said. “He always tried to improve Fort Worth and make sure that development happened in his district, and it happened respectfully.”
As a child, James Picht remembers his dad’s love for hunting, even in the frigid mountains of Montana where they would hike in search of deer. He enjoyed golf and fishing, but perhaps his recent favorite pastime was doting on his grandchildren.
Picht and “Tru” Picht had four children and three grandchildren. When James Picht and his wife adopted two young children from Russia, the couple met their adopted grandchildren at the airport with stuffed animals. For the grandkids’ first Christmas, they showed up with an SUV packed with so many gifts, James Picht said it looked like they “stole the presents from Santa.”
“I told Dad that that spoiled Christmas for us for the next 10 years,” James Picht said.
The couple was also extremely proud of their older granddaughter, James Picht’s niece, and passionate about the importance of education.
In June, “Tru” Picht died after a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Picht never really stopped grieving after her death, James Picht said.
“He was looking forward to the future, but he was still profoundly sad,” James Picht said. “He missed her terribly.”
The family is planning to hold a memorial later in the year due to COVID-19. They plan to bury Picht in a military cemetery.
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 6:39 PM.
