Officials Remember Late Economic Development Director

Arkansas economic leaders paid tribute to Maria Haley, Gov. Mike Beebe’s director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission who died last week of a brain aneurysm.

Haley was also a former Bill Clinton gubernatorial and White House official.

Rob Moritz with our content partner, the Arkansas New Bureau, reported on the memorial service held at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock on Monday.

“Maria Haley was one of a kind and it’s a testament to her that you are all here,” Gov. Mike Beebe told an overflow crowd at the Clinton Presidential Center. “She had a unique blend of energy, personality, knowledge and wisdom … and an ability to transcend nearly every facet of society.”

Also speaking at the memorial service were Haley’s longtime friend, Betty Tucker, wife of former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, and Mike Honda, D-Calif., a friend and chair emeritus of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

Haley, whose father was in the Filipino diplomatic corps, was educated and traveled in India, France, Spain and Laos as a child. She immigrated to the United States in 1971 to become a U.S. citizen and married the late John Haley, a Little Rock attorney.

You can read more of Mortiz’s report at this link. Also, Gov. Beebe (D) made remarks about Haley in his weekly radio address, which you can read here.