Randall Norton Christmas (October 14, 1920 – July 27, 1969) was the

Mayor of Miami Below is a list of Mayors of the City of Miami, Florida, United States. List of mayors See also * Government of the City of Miami * * Timeline of Miami * List of mayors of Miami-Dade County, Florida, 1964–present * Miami City Hall Ref ...

from 1955 to 1957.Pbase.com
/ref> He had previously served on the Miami City Commission from 1953 to 1955. In 1926 the Christmas family relocated to Miami. The sixth of seven siblings, Randall began working as a young boy delivering the Miami Herald. He attended Edison High School where he graduated in 1938. Christmas served with the

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

VMB443 in a B-25 bomber in the Pacific Theater during World War II where he met and became acquainted with

George Smathers George Armistead Smathers (November 14, 1913 – January 20, 2007) was an American lawyer and politician who represented the state of Florida in the United States Senate from 1951 until 1969 and in the United States House from 1947 to 1951, as ...

, later to become an influential Senator from the state of Florida. As a student at the University of Miami in 1948, he became a charter member of the Beta Delta chapter of

Phi Kappa Tau Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...

fraternity. In 1951, Randall graduated from the

University of Miami School of Law The University of Miami School of Law (Miami Law or UM Law) is the law school of the University of Miami, a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. Founded in 1926, the University of Miami School of Law is the oldest law school i ...

. Christmas served in a time of tremendous change and phenomenal growth for Miami highlighted by the creation and transition to Miami-Dade, a municipal entity incorporating the whole of Miami proper with several of the smaller municipalities in the wider metro area. Christmas was the first mayor to serve from what are still the current offices of the City of Miami municipal government. He can be seen on camera from these offices at the start of the movie '' Miami Exposé'' (1956) which Christmas introduces to audiences. He later served as an Assistant State's Attorney from 1960 to 1964, afterwards continuing in private practice till his death. Merrie Christmas Park in the

Coconut Grove Coconut Grove, also known colloquially as The Grove, is the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood of Miami in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The neighborhood is roughly bound by North Prospect Drive to the south, LeJeune Road to the west, S ...

neighborhood of Miami is named for Christmas' daughter, Merrie, who died at the age of 15 in 1969. He is buried at Southern Memorial Cemetery in North Miami Beach, Florida.

References

External links

* 1920 births 1969 deaths University of Miami School of Law alumni Mayors of Miami 20th-century American politicians {{Miami-stub