Thomas "Tom" Gallen, Jr. | |
---|---|
Florida House of Representatives | |
In office 1965–1972 | |
Florida Senate | |
In office 1972–1978 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Tampa,Florida | December 28,1932
Political party | Democrat |
Alma mater | Florida State University,University of Florida |
Occupation | Judge |
Military service | |
Branch/service | Army |
Years of service | 1952-1955 |
Thomas "Tom" Gallen,Jr. (born December 28,1932) is a retired Florida state legislator and circuit judge.
Gallen was born in Tampa,Florida in 1932. [1] He attended the University of Tampa,leaving during the Korean War in order to enlist in the Army Special Forces. [2] He was a member of the inaugural group of Green Berets formed in 1952 and deployed to Bad Tölz,Germany in 1953,serving until 1955. [1] [3] After leaving the army he returned to school,receiving a BS in Business Administration from Florida State University and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Florida. [4] Gallen's father,Thomas Gallen,Sr.,had been an attorney as well,practicing for only a few months before the Great Depression,then leaving law,but Gallen Jr. was never made aware of this fact until after his own graduation from law school. [2]
Gallen was a law partner at the law firm of Miller Gallen Kaklis and Venable from 1960 to 1985. [5] During this period he also held public office,serving as a member of the Florida legislature for 12 years,first in the Florida House of Representatives,where he served from 1965–1972,before being elected to the Florida Senate. [6] [7] During his time in the Senate,he became chairman of the senate rules and calendar committee. [8] He served in the Florida Senate from 1972-1978 before leaving office,opting to return to practicing law rather than seeking reelection. [9] In 1985,he was elected to the 12th Judicial Circuit as a circuit judge,where he was elected as chief judge in 1998,and served until he retired in 2002. [10] In 2005,Judge Gallen received the Manatee County Bar lifetime achievement award. [11] He served as a senior circuit judge for the 12th Judicial Circuit and associate judge on the 2nd District Court of Appeals. [12] [13] In 2009,he issued a legal opinion that lead to the release of James Bain following 35 years in prison,after DNA evidence was used to prove he was wrongfully convicted of rape. [14] In 2013,Gallen was named to the Manatee County Rural Health Services board of directors. [15]
Manatee County is a county in the Central Florida portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 US Census,the population was 399,710. Manatee County is part of the North Port-Sarasota-Bradenton Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county seat and largest city is Bradenton. The county was created in 1855 and named for the Florida manatee,Florida's official marine mammal. Features of Manatee County include access to the southern part of the Tampa Bay estuary,the Sunshine Skyway Bridge,and the Manatee River.
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Bradenton is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County,Florida,United States. As of the 2020 census,the city's population is 55,698.
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Sarasota is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities,beaches,resorts,and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the southern end of the Greater Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Bay and several barrier islands between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Sarasota is a principal city of the Sarasota metropolitan area,and is the seat of Sarasota County. According to the 2020 U.S. census,Sarasota had a population of 54,842.
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The Sarasota Reds were a professional minor league baseball team,located in Sarasota,Florida,as a member of the Florida State League. However team originally started play in Sarasota as the Sarasota White Sox in 1989. They remained in the city for the next 21 seasons,going through a series of name changes due to their affiliation changes. They were known as the White Sox from 1989–1993,as the Sarasota Red Sox from 1994–2004,and the Reds from 2004–2009. In Sarasota,the team played in Payne Park (1989) and then Ed Smith Stadium (1990–2009). They won two division championships,in 1989 and 1992,and made playoff appearances in 1989,1991,1992,1994,and 2007.
Keith Fitzgerald is a former Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives,representing the 69th District for two terms from 2007 to 2010.
The Sarasota metropolitan area is a metropolitan area located in Southwest Florida. The metropolitan area is defined by the Office of Management and Budget as the North Port–Sarasota–Bradenton metropolitan statistical area as a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) consisting of Manatee County and Sarasota County. The largest cities in the MSA are North Port,Sarasota,and Bradenton. At the 2020 census,the MSA had a population of 833,716.
William Saint Galvano is an American Republican politician from Florida. He represented parts of Bradenton area in the Florida Senate from 2012 to 2020 and in the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010. He served as President of the Senate in his last two years in office.
Mark G. Flanagan is a Republican politician who formally served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 1994 to 2002. He represented the 68th district,encompassing west Manatee County and a small segment of southern Hillsborough County.
Michael S. Bennett is an American politician from Florida who is a member of the Republican Party. He served as a member of the Florida Senate representing the 21st District from 2002 to 2012. He was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2001 to 2002.
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State College of Florida Collegiate School (SCFCS) is a public charter school in Florida,United States. Established in 2010,it is part of and operates on State College of Florida's Bradenton and Venice campuses. It was created through a charter with the School District of Manatee County.
Edgar Hilleary Price,Jr.,,was a World War II Bomber pilot,Florida legislator,community leader and agricultural manager who fought for civil rights and public education.
Jim Boyd is a Republican politician and a current member of the Florida Senate,representing the 21st District,which includes northern Manatee County and southern Hillsborough County. Boyd previously represented the 68th District from 2010 to 2012 and the 71st district from 2012 to 2018.
The Tampa Southern Railroad was a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) originally running from Uceta Yard in Tampa south to Palmetto,Bradenton,and Sarasota with a later extension southeast to Fort Ogden in the Peace River valley built shortly after. It was one of many rail lines completed during the Florida land boom of the 1920s. Most of the remaining trackage now serves as CSX Transportation's Palmetto Subdivision. Another short portion just east of Sarasota also remains that is now operated by Seminole Gulf Railway.
Carlos Miguel Beruff is an American real estate developer and a Republican politician and donor. On March 1,2017,Governor Rick Scott appointed him chair of the Florida Constitution Revision Commission,a body that meets once every 20 years to propose amendments to the Florida Constitution.
Joe Gruters is the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party,and a member of the Florida Senate representing the 23rd District which consists of Sarasota County and part of Charlotte County. He was previously a member of the Florida House of Representatives. Earlier in his career,Gruters worked on the campaign of U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan as campaign manager and was vice chairman of the Republican Party of Florida and chairman of the Republican Party of Sarasota.