Curtis B. Richardson (born October 8, 1956,

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

) is an American elected official, who has been a member of the Tallahassee City Commission since 2014. He previously served for eight years in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

, representing parts of Gadsden and Leon Counties from 2000 to 2008.

Early life and education

Richardson was born in

and raised in nearby

Green Cove Springs, Florida Green Cove Springs is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Florida, United States. The population was 5,378 at the 2000 census. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 6,908. The city is named after the portio ...

. He earned B.S. in Psychology from the

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

in 1978, an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from the

University of West Florida The University of West Florida (West Florida or UWF) is a public university in Pensacola, Florida. Established in 1963 as part of the State University System of Florida, the university sits on the third largest campus in the State University Sy ...

in 1979, and an M.S. in School Psychology from

in 1983.

Career

Early career

He worked as a school psychologist in the Gadsden County public school system for ten years, until he joined the staff of

Florida Education Commissioner The Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) is the state education agency of Florida. It governs public education and manages funding and testing for local educational agencies (school boards). It is headquartered in the Turlington Building (n ...

Betty Castor Elizabeth Castor (née Bowe; born May 11, 1941) is an American educator and former politician. Castor was elected to the Florida Senate and as Florida Education Commissioner, and she subsequently served as the President of the University of Sou ...

in 1991. He subsequently worked in Governor

Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States ...

' office for several years, and then as a consultant for the University of South Florida. In 2010, he returned to work at the Gadsden public schools, as Director of School Improvement.

Politics

In 1990, Richardson was elected to the Leon County School Board. He served on the board until 1996, when he ran for a seat on the Leon County Commission. He lost in the Democratic primary to Bill Proctor. Four years later, Richardson ran for the

Tallahassee Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2020, the population ...

- and

Gadsden County Gadsden County is a county located in the panhandle of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 43,826. Its county seat is Quincy. Gadsden County is included in the Tallahassee, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area. Ga ...

-based Florida House of Representatives seat being vacated by

Al Lawson Alfred James Lawson Jr. (born September 23, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who was the U.S. representative for Florida's 5th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. The district, which was eliminated following redistricting dur ...

, who was running for the

Florida Senate The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. Richardson was elected, and served four terms until he was term-limited in 2008. In 2010, when Lawson was term-limited from the Senate, Richardson ran his seat, but was defeated in the Democratic primary to former Leon Schools Superintendent

Bill Montford William Jonas Montford III (born August 22, 1947) is an American Democratic politician from Florida. He served in the Florida Senate from 2010 to 2020, representing parts of the Florida Panhandle around Tallahassee. Previously, he served on th ...

, 55 to 45%. In August 2014, Richardson won a special election to the Tallahassee City Commission. The seat became vacant when then-commissioner

Andrew Gillum Andrew Demetric Gillum (born July 26, 1979) is an American former politician who served as the 126th mayor of Tallahassee from 2014 to 2018. He served as a Tallahassee city commissioner from 2003 until 2014, first elected at the age of 23. He i ...

resigned to run for mayor. Richardson was re-elected in 2016.

Personal life

Richardson lives in

Tallahassee, Florida Tallahassee ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, Florida, Leon County. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In ...

with his wife, Nina Ashenafi Richardson, a county judge and former president of the Tallahassee Bar Association."First Elected Ethiopian-American Judge"
''Tadias'' magazine, March 16th, 2009 The couple have two daughters, Carina and Aida. Ashenafi Richardson is the daughter of the Ethiopian composer, ethnomusicologist, and educator, Dr.

Ashenafi Kebede Ashenafi Kebede ( am, አሸናፊ ከበደ; 1938 – May 8, 1998) was an Ethiopian composer, Conductor (music), conductor, ethnomusicology, ethnomusicologist, historical musicologist, music educator, novelist, and poet. Early life Born in ...

and is the sister of the actress

Senait Ashenafi Senait Ashenafi (born March 10, 1966 in Addis Ababa) is an Ethiopian-born actress in the United States who played Keesha Ward in ''General Hospital'' from 1994 to 1998. Senait was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Actress In A ...

References

External links

City of Tallahassee - Commissioner RichardsonFlorida House of Representatives - Representative Richardson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, Curtis B. Florida State University alumni 1972 births Living people Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Politicians from Jacksonville, Florida University of West Florida alumni