David Sholtz

David Sholtz (October 6, 1891 – March 21, 1953) was the 26th Governor of Florida.

Early life and education

Sholtz was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn, New York, and after graduating from Yale, where he was a member of the Acacia Fraternity, in 1914 he went on and earned a law degree from Stetson University Law School. With his law degree, he started a law practice in Daytona Beach, Florida. He married Alice May Agee, with whom he had three children. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War I.

Political career

Sholtz entered politics when he became a one-term member of the Florida House of Representatives in 1917. After that, he was a State's Attorney from 1919 to 1921, and he became a city judge in 1921. Taking the oath on January 4, 1933, he became governor during the Great Depression. During his tenure as governor, he established the Florida Park Service and Florida Citrus Commission, passed a workers' compensation law, mandated free textbooks in public schools, and funded salaries for public school teachers. While in office, he was a strong advocate of governmental restructuring.

After leaving the Governor's Mansion on January 5, 1937, Sholtz unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate in 1938, losing the Democratic primary to Claude Pepper. He spent most of his time in New York after his term as governor, but he retained his residency in Florida. He died while visiting Key West, Florida in 1953 and is buried at the Cedar Hill Memory Gardens in Daytona Beach, Florida.

External links

• Official Governor's portrait and biography from the State of Florida
• National Governors Association
• Pepper v. Sholtz v. Wilcox, Time Magazine, Monday, May. 02, 1938
• Find-A-Grave profile for David Sholtz

Political offices
Preceded by Doyle E. Carlton	Governor of Florida January 4, 1933 – January 5, 1937	Succeeded by Fred P. Cone