Howard Liebengood, 62; U.S. Senate Officer, Washington Lobbyist

Howard S. Liebengood, 62, who was U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms, chief of staff for two senators and a Washington lobbyist, died Thursday of a heart attack at his home in Vienna, Va.

Liebengood, a protege of former Senate Majority Leader Howard K. Baker Jr. (R-Tenn.), was sergeant-at-arms from 1981 to 1983. His duties included resolving questions over Senate rules and protocol, maintaining security and managing a $49-million budget and staff of more than 1,200, including computer specialists, carpenters, barbers and the Capitol Police.

After leaving the Senate post, he became a lobbyist successively for the Tobacco Institute; his own firm, Gold and Liebengood; a law firm; and Philip Morris Cos. Inc. In 2001, he became chief of staff for his friend, Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.). After Thompson’s retirement, Liebengood assumed the same post for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.).

Born in South Bend, Ind., Liebengood graduated from Kansas State University and from Vanderbilt University Law School in Nashville. He served in the Army in Vietnam and practiced law in Nashville with Thompson before going to work in Washington.