A.M. Willis, Jr.

Achille Murat Willis, Jr. (a.k.a. "Monk"; Murat is pronounced mu–RA, rhymes with "hurrah;" 9 October 1916 Richmond, Virginia — 14 January 2011 Longview, Texas) was an American insurance executive, civic leader, political adviser, Congressional staffer, and public university regent. From age 30 on, he lived in Longview, Texas. From 1965 to 1983, Willis was one of nine regents for the University of North Texas. Three consecutive six-year appointments by three Texas governors added-up to eighteen years of public service. During that time, the UNT Board of Regents elected Willis chairman for ten consecutive annual terms, from 1969 to 1979.

Willis was the son of A. Murat Willis, Sr., a nationally known surgeon, prolific professor of surgery at the Medical College of Virginia and founder of several hospitals.

Although Willis was a lifelong Democrat, his conviction ran along philosophical lines that, at least once in his life, overrode party lines. Willis had worked for the 1940 Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie when he ran against Franklin D. Roosevelt; and in doing so, wrote some of his speeches.

When Willis moved to Texas in 1948, newly married, he worked for Lyndon B. Johnson's senate campaign. Having served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1956, 1960, and 1968, he became a friend and adviser to President Johnson.

In 1972, three years before the end of the Vietnam War, Willis joined the staff of U.S. Congressman Ray Roberts. In 1976, a year after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, Roberts appointed Willis as chief of staff of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, of which Roberts was chairman. Willis held that position until 1983. Willis' oldest daughter, Catherine, had been a member of Roberts' staff in 1971.

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