Lanie George Black III was an American politician, Navy veteran, farmer, poultry producer, chaplain, and substitute teacher from the state of Missouri. In 1998, he became the first Republican state representative for Mississippi County, Missouri, since Reconstruction about 150 years ago. In 1996, he was defeated by Fred E. "Gene" Copeland, the Dean of the Missouri House. In 1998, he was elected by defeating former Missouri First Lady Betty Cooper Hearnes, his choir director. In the Missouri legislature he often worked with Peter Myers, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture, who lived in a neighboring district.