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Bob Lamb, Longtime State Chamber Leader, Dies at 82

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Bob Lamb, who headed the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas for 25 years and worked on economic development in the state for many more, died Saturday in Fayetteville. He was 82.

Lamb led the State Chamber/AIA as executive vice president from 1965 to 1990, during which time he represented business interests at the Arkansas Capitol, headed several successful efforts to keep Arkansas a right-to-work state and organized and led hundreds of industrial job recruitment trips around the nation.

After Lamb left the State Chamber in 1990, he and his wife, DeeDee, moved from Little Rock to Fayetteville, where he worked another 18 years as an officer and director of the Arkansas Western Gas Co. In that position, he continued to work on job creation projects and legislation that helped in the development of the Fayetteville Shale Play in central Arkansas.

He was born Bobby Joe Lamb on April 6, 1932, the son of Jessie and Shirl Lamb of Reyno (Randolph County), and grew up on a farm. He became a football coach in Morrilton in 1954 and in 1956 became the executive vice president of the Morrilton Chamber of Commerce. During the next nine years, Lamb held the same positions at the Arkadelphia Chamber, the Blount County Chamber at Maryville, Tennessee, and the Greater Lafayette Chamber at Lafayette, Indiana.

In 1965, Lamb joined the State Chamber, which in that year developed an industrial recruitment program designed to complement the state’s economic development efforts. Lamb coordinated a 13-member committee that traveled throughout the United States for six years promoting Arkansas to industries.

He worked with nine governors on numerous economic development projects, workforce development initiatives and job creation efforts.

Lamb also worked closely with dozens of chambers of commerce throughout the state, conducting leadership workshops and supervisor training programs. He became the champion for the creation of the annual Communities of Excellence Awards to honor local communities for their efforts to make the state a better place to live and work.

Lamb also organized and helped lead 14 statewide legislative issues or constitutional amendments on such matters as usury, freedom to work, ethics, taxation and utility regulations.

Lamb was preceded in death by his parents, a sister, Shirley Lamb, and a grandson, Asael “Cy” Lamb. He is survived by his wife, Delia “DeeDee” Lamb; two stepsons, Scott Dinwiddie of Fayetteville (Suzanne Terrazas of Little Rock) and Ross Dinwiddie (Mary Lea) of Fayetteville; his daughters, Dianne Baysinger (Danny Lee) of Harriet (Searcy County) and Melinda Lamb of Little Rock; and two grandchildren, Madeline Dinwiddie of Fayetteville and Lynda Hensley (Jackie) of Marshall. Three great-grandchildren, Cali Kyle (Jake) of Leslie, Allison Hensley of Marshall and River Lamb of Little Rock, also survive him.

A memorial service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday at Central United Methodist Church in Fayetteville.

Memorials may be made to the Central United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 1106, Fayetteville, 72702, or the Washington County Historical Society 118 E. Dickson, Fayetteville, 72701.

To read the full obituary and sign the online guest book, visit MooresFuneralChapel.com here.

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