Funeral for Former Tyler Mayor

TYLER – Funeral services were held Monday morning at Green Acres Baptist Church for former Tyler Mayor Bob Layton, with burial following at Tyler Memorial Park. Layton, who was 86, died Friday after a brief battle with cancer.

Layton served as a member of the Tyler City Council from 1974-1976. He was elected mayor of Tyler and served from 1975-1976. According to the Stewart Family Funeral Home obituary, he was a member of the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce, where he was past vice president and served on and chaired several committees. He was a member and past president of the Tyler Rotary Club and district governor of the Rotary International in 1975-76. Mr. Layton served on the Board of Directors for the East Texas Hospital Foundation, the East Texas Medical Center Hospital, Leadership of Tyler, Mother Frances Hospital, and Good Will Industries of East Texas. He was past chairman of the Airport Advisory Committee, the Appeals Board for Building Codes, and the Airport Advisory Technical Committee for the City of Tyler. He was Chairman Emeritus of the Historic Aviation Memorial Museum at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport.

Layton was initially employed by Layton Supply Company until 1950, when he founded the Layton Engineering Company, which he owned for over 40 years. In February 1987, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and later re-appointed by President George Bush, Sr. and began working as Regional Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 6 in Dallas, where he was responsible for directing federal environmental programs in five states. He rose to SES Level 6, the highest senior executive service level. He was appointed to direct a pilot program in Environmental Education at UT-Tyler in 1992-1993. He later became an environmental consultant on many environmental issues.