CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales posted to social media today that former judge Loyd Neal has passed away.
"Our family’s deepest condolences to the Neal family on the passing of former Mayor and County Judge Loyd Neal," Canales wrote on Facebook. "His contributions were many to our community and his impact felt in any room."
Neal was Mayor of Corpus Christi from 1997-2005. He was then Nueces County Judge from 2006-2018.
"I will forever remember him swearing me in as a new Port Commissioner as well as handing me the keys to the office as Nueces County Judge. He gave me a gift of painting the office for me," Canales said. The room was painted solid maroon due to Neal's known love of the Aggies.
"We were affiliated with different parties, styles and philosophies, but we shared a love for a great county and the passion for advocating for our military and veterans. He will be missed by his Nueces County family," Canales said.
At his last State of the County address in November 2018, Neal highlighted how the County had to handle what he called a tough budget by raising taxes and cutting expenses, but he said by doing those things the County has come a long way.
"The County was not in good shape 12 years ago," Neal said. "We've restored the integrity of the office and court. When we say something now, I think people believe us."
Neal addressed the County's work to comply to make voting centers ADA compliant, something that also did not come without its own financial challenges.
"But we're out of money, and you can imagine when we spend the rest of this money we will spend all the money we had in the bonds, so the new court will be faced with a challenge," Neal said.
In early 2018 Neal suffered from a serious case of pneumonia, which he was admitted to the hospital for in January. He had been in the ICU for nearly a week and lost 20-percent of his ability to move. He returned to be the bench on March 1, 2018- shortly before retiring in December of the same year.
"I will say to you, from the bottom of my heart, God bless you. God bless this county. Thank you and goodbye," Neal said at a retirement event. "I was honored by the privilege of having served 12 years as the county judge, eight years as mayor, and it's time to move on and I'm moving on."
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