Richard T. Crotty (born August 30, 1948 in

Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 10,875 according to the 2010 United States Census. In 2019, its population rose to an estimated 11,027. The village of Dobbs Ferry is located in, and is a p ...

) is an American politician who served as the

Mayor of Orange County, Florida Mayor of Orange County, Florida is the chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of County Commissioners. The mayor is elected countywide. Duties and powers The mayor is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the county governmen ...

Biography

Crotty grew up in Orlando. He graduated from

Valencia Community College Valencia College is a public college in Orlando, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. The college was founded in 1967 as Valencia Junior College and changed its name in 2010 because the academic scope of the school had expanded to ...

in 1970 and

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

in 1972, and he also attended

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 ...

. After three years doing waste manage consultation under contract from the

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

, he was selected to the Orlando Chamber of Commerce's first "Leadership Orlando" program. In 1978, he was first elected to 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 ...

. Later he served in 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 ...

as the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Floor Leader. The first piece of legislation he co-sponsored was the law that changed the name of FTU, his alma mater, to the

. He was the prime sponsor of the law that created the "Florida Prepaid College Tuition Program", the first and largest of its kind in the United States. One of the last pieces of legislation he sponsored was the "Junny Rios-Martinez Act" in 1992, named after the victim of former Florida Death Row inmate

Mark Dean Schwab Mark Dean Schwab (December 16, 1968 – July 1, 2008) was an American murderer and child rapist. He was convicted of the April 18, 1991 rape and murder of 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez, Jr. and imprisoned at Raiford Prison in Florida. Schwab ...

, which denied parole and early release to violent

sexual predator A sexual predator is a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" or abusive manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" ...

s. After 14 years of service in Tallahassee, Crotty returned to Orlando and was elected the Orange County Property Appraiser in 1992. He began the upgrade of the office to include modern personal computer technology in its tasks. On January 23, 2001, after the confirmation of Orange County Chairman (former name of the position of Mayor)

Mel Martinez Mel, Mels or MEL may refer to: Biology * Mouse erythroleukemia cell line (MEL) * National Herbarium of Victoria, a herbarium with the Index Herbariorum code MEL People * Mel (given name), the abbreviated version of several given names (including ...

as the

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development The United States secretary of housing and urban development (or HUD secretary) is the head of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, a member of the president's Cabinet, and thirteenth in the presidential line of succe ...

, Florida Governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush a ...

appointed Crotty to replace Martinez. Crotty was subsequently elected to the position in 2002, and re-elected in 2006, receiving 73% and 70% of the vote, respectively. The position of Orange County Mayor carries a

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

of two terms, but since Crotty was appointed in the latter half of Martinez's term, he was permitted to run for two full terms. On September 10, 2010, it was confirmed that Armando Gutierrez and Crotty had negotiated the potential move of the Tampa Yankees to Orlando. Crotty was a key supporter of an aggressive expansion project for

Orange County Public Schools Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) is the public school district for Orange County, Florida. It is based in the Ronald Blocker Educational Leadership Center in downtown Orlando. As of the 2021-22 school year, OCPS has an enrollment of 206,246 st ...

, which was passed by Orange County voters in 2002. Crotty was a significant fundraiser for George W. Bush during the 2004 election. Crotty was instrumental in winning a new medical school for the University of Central Florida and convincing the Burnham Institute to build a new research facility in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

as part of his vision for the Innovation Way high-tech corridor. Richard Crotty currently serves as the executive vice president of Crossman & Company, overseeing their Corporate Advisory Services. In August 2018, the

Republican party elected Crotty as state committeeman, replacing Paul Paulson.

Recognition

''The Orlando Sentinel'' named Crotty the second most powerful person in Central Florida, behind Orlando Mayor

Buddy Dyer John Hugh "Buddy" Dyer (born August 7, 1958) is an American politician who is the 32nd Mayor of Orlando. First elected in 2003, he is Orlando's longest-serving mayor. He is a member of the Florida Democratic Party. Previously he represented Orl ...

, in 2008. In previous years, Crotty occupied the top position in that list.

References

External links

Richard Crotty
Official Website

Biography at OrangeCountyFL.net , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Crotty, Richard County executives in Florida Living people Members of the Florida House of Representatives Florida state senators Mayors of places in Florida People from Dobbs Ferry, New York People from Orlando, Florida Florida State University alumni University of Central Florida alumni University of Central Florida Trustees 1948 births

Biography

Recognition

See also

References

External links