Frank ‘Ted’ Moss, 91; 3-Term Utah Senator

Former Sen. Frank “Ted” Moss, a liberal Utah Democrat who championed conservation and social issues during his 18 years in Congress, has died. He was 91.

Moss had been ill for several months and died Wednesday of natural causes at a Salt Lake City nursing home, said his son, Brian Moss.

Moss was first elected to the Senate in 1958 and served three terms until Republican Orrin Hatch defeated him in 1976.

An outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, Moss also pushed for a ban on cigarette advertising on radio and TV and was a sponsor of the Medicaid program.

But he was perhaps best known for his work in establishing national parks and recreation areas, including two parks -- Capitol Reef and Canyonlands -- in Utah.

Moss was born in Salt Lake City on Sept. 23, 1911.

After earning a law degree at George Washington University, he worked for two years for the Securities and Exchange Commission. He returned to Utah in 1939 and became a law clerk to a state Supreme Court justice.

In 1940, Moss was elected a city judge in Salt Lake City. During World War II, he was on the legal staff of the U.S. Army Air Forces in England. He returned to elected office after the war, first as city judge again and later as Salt Lake County district attorney.

Two years after an unsuccessful run for governor in 1956, Moss won his Senate seat.

After losing to Hatch, Moss returned to practicing law in Washington, D.C., and Salt Lake City, where the federal courthouse bears his name.