Lawrence N. "Larry" Seilhamer Rodríguez (born December 13, 1954) is a Puerto Rican

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

who was the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. He is affiliated with the pro-statehood New Progressive Party (PNP), and was a member of the

Senate of Puerto Rico The Senate of Puerto Rico ( es, Senado de Puerto Rico) is the upper house of the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico, the territorial legislature of Puerto Rico. The Senate, together with the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, control t ...

from January 7, 2009 until January 15, 2020. Seilhamer is also a former basketball player for the

Baloncesto Superior Nacional The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation. The Baloncesto Superior Naci ...

from 1972 to 1984. On December 2, 2020, he was nominated as

Puerto Rico Secretary of State The secretary of state of Puerto Rico ( es, Secretario de Estado de Puerto Rico) leads all efforts that promote the cultural, political, and economical relations between Puerto Rico and foreign countries, and other jurisdictions of the United S ...

by Governor-elect Pedro R. Pierluisi.

Early years and education

Seilhamer Rodríguez was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on December 13, 1954. His parents were George Seilhamer and Isabel Rodríguez, and he is the youngest of four children. Seilhamer was raised in Ponce,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, where he studied his elementary and high school at the Santa María Academy. In 1976, Seilhamer received his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

from the University of New Haven, graduating cum laude. In 1979, he completed a second

in Science, with a concentration in Pre-medicine, from the

University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez The University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus (UPRM) or Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez (RUM) in Spanish (also referred to as Colegio and CAAM in allusion to its former name), is a public land-grant university in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. UPRM ...

. In 1983, Seilhamer joined the College of Engineers and Surveyors of Puerto Rico as a licensed engineer.

Sports career

During his time in college, Seilhamer was part of the basketball team of the University of New Haven. When he was 17 years old, he also joined the

league, as a member of the Leones de Ponce. After playing for the

Indios de Canóvanas The Indios de Canóvanas (lit. "Canóvanas Indians") was a BSN basketball team that was based in Canóvanas, Puerto Rico. History The Indios were active for several years in the league, winning the championship in 1983 and 1984. They also reach ...

and the

Vaqueros de Bayamón The Vaqueros de Bayamón are a Puerto Rican basketball team of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional based in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The Vaqueros play their home games at Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez, Rubén Rodríguez Coliseum, a venue shared with the L ...

, he retired in 1984. During his 1980 season with Canóvanas, Seilhamer averaged 13.5 points per game. Seilhamer is also a tennis player, and represented Puerto Rico in several tournaments. In 2001 and 2004, Seilhamer was owner of the

Leonas de Ponce Previously named ''Leonas de Ponce'', Ponce Leonas is the professional female volleyball team of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Their home stadium is Cancha Salvador Dijols in Playa (Ponce), Playa de Ponce, Ponce, Puerto Rico, Ponce, Puerto Rico.

female volleyball team.

BSN player statistics

, - , align="left" , 1972 , align="left" , Ponce , 5 , , .423 , , - , , .400 , , 2.2 , , 1.0 , , 5.2 , - , align="left" , 1973 , align="left" , Ponce , 28 , , .406 , , - , , .708 , , 1.4 , , 0.5 , , 7.0 , - , align="left" , 1974 , align="left" , Ponce , 28 , , .339 , , - , , .553 , , 1.2 , , 0.4 , , 3.5 , - , align="left" , 1975 , align="left" , Ponce , 29 , , .455 , , - , , .673 , , 2.6 , , 0.6 , , 7.4 , - , align="left" , 1976 , align="left" , Ponce , 31 , , .431 , , - , , .627 , , 3.3 , , 0.8 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" , 1977 , align="left" , Ponce , 31 , , .419 , , - , , .667 , , 1.8 , , 1.1 , , 6.5 , - , align="left" , 1978 , align="left" , Ponce , 29 , , .478 , , - , , .661 , , 2.3 , , 2.2 , , 10.9 , - , align="left" , 1979 , align="left" , Canóvanas , 26 , , .497 , , - , , .621 , , 2.2 , , 0.9 , , 7.8 , - , align="left" , 1980 , align="left" , Canóvanas , 30 , , .500 , , - , , .723 , , 2.3 , , 1.4 , , 13.5 , - , align="left" , 1981 , align="left" , Ponce , 32 , , .545 , , .000 , , .723 , , 2.8 , , 1.5 , , 13.3 , - , align="left" , 1982 , align="left" , Ponce , 22 , , .369 , , - , , .615 , , 1.4 , , 0.6 , , 4.2 , - , align="left" , 1983 , align="left" , Bayamón , 29 , , .432 , , .500 , , .667 , , 1.6 , , 1.0 , , 6.5 , - , align="left" , 1984 , align="left" , Bayamón , 21 , , .402 , , .286 , , .750 , , 0.6 , , 0.6 , , 4.6 , - , align="left" , Career , align="left" , , 341 , , .456 , , .294 , , .666 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 7.9

Political career

As part of his political career, Seilhamer worked for the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce as Director of Budget and Planning Operations, as well as Director of Housing and Urban Development. More recently he was the president of Southern Consultants and Engineers, an engineering and surveying company based in Ponce. In February 2007, Seilhamer decided to participate in the primaries of his party for the

. On March 9, 2008, he received the most votes for the position of Senator for the District of Ponce. On November 4, 2008, he was elected as Senator at the

general elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

, being the first time the New Progressive Party had won that district in 16 years. Seilhamer was elected to the Puerto Rico Senate on November 4, 2008 representing the District of Ponce. In the Senate, he is the chairman of the Urban and Infrastructure Committee. In addition, his fellow senators chose him to serve as the Senate Majority Whip for the 2009–2012 term, making him the fourth highest-ranking member of the Puerto Rico Senate. In August, 2011, Seilhamer became

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

, after he was chosen to fill the vacancy left by

Roberto Arango Roberto Arango-Vinent is an American politician who served in the Senate of Puerto Rico from January 2005 until August 2011 representing the San Juan district for the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico (NPP), which is a conservative group der ...

. He also became chairman of the ''Comisión de Reglas y Calendario'' (English: Rules and Scheduling Committee). He is also President of the Special Commission for the Puerto de las Américas.

Re-election

On 20 March 2011, he announced his intention not to seek another term as Senator for the District of Ponce, deciding to run for a Senator At-large seat. This came as a result of the failure of a Senate bill, which he had authored, which would have ordered the Puerto Rico Buildings Authority to build a new vocational school in Ponce to replace the 60-year-old Escuela Superior Vocacional Bernardino Cordero Bernard. On August 16, 2011, Seilhamer confirmed that he would seek reelection to the Senate in 2012, this time as a Senator At-large, and that he wouldn't challenge María "Mayita" Meléndez for Mayor of Ponce. During the 2012 general elections, Seilhamer was reelected despite the defeat of his party in most of the other seats. In addition, he was selected as the Minority Leader for the NPP delegation starting January 2, 2013. On June 5, 2016 he was renominated for a second term as a senator at-large and for a third term as a member of the Senate. On January 13, 2020, he resigned from the Senate effective January 15, 2020 citing his desire to spend more time with family, who lived in the southern city of Ponce and in the United States. His resignation was "irrevocable, final, and firm."

Personal life

Seilhamer has four children with Linda Anadon. Their names are Dennis, David, Desiree and

Debora Debora Racing cars is a small French car builder, popular with private racing teams, based in Besançon, France. Teams generally use their chassis to take part in Le Mans style endurance racing such as Magny Cours, Jarama and le Mans. Drivers al ...

. Debora (born on 1985) played for the USC Trojans volleyball team of the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

. She and her sister Desirée also played in the Puerto Rico Professional Volleyball League.Debora Seilhamer profile
on USC Trojans Official website

References

External links

Hon. Larry Seilhamer
on SenadoPR , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Seilhamer Rodriguez, Larry 1954 births Baloncesto Superior Nacional players Leones de Ponce basketball players Living people Members of the Senate of Puerto Rico New Progressive Party (Puerto Rico) politicians Politicians from Ponce Presidents pro tempore of the Senate of Puerto Rico Puerto Rican men's basketball players Puerto Rican people of German descent Puerto Rican Roman Catholics Secretaries of State of Puerto Rico University of New Haven alumni University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez