Alberto Gutman

Alberto Gutman (January 4, 1959 – February 17, 2019) was a Cuban-American politician. Born to a Jewish family in Havana, Cuba, he moved to the United States when he was 6 years old.

He lived and went to school in Miami Beach, Florida.

He entered politics and became a member of the Republican Party. He was elected Member of Florida House of Representatives, 1984–92; member of Florida Senate 34th District, 1992-99.

He is a member of the Freemasons, B'nai B'rith, Phi Kappa Phi, and Phi Theta Kappa.

He is married and has two daughters, one of whom is disabled.

In 1992 he won first election to the Florida Senate defeating Democrat Kendall Coffey, who was subsequently appointed by President Clinton as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Gutman resigned his post as chair of the Senate Health Care Committee over alleged improprieties in brokering a Medicaid health plan during his term as vice chairman of the committee. He had obtained the permission of the Senate legal counsel before brokering the deal and maintained his position on the Senate Select Committee on Social Services Reform and the Ways and Means subcommittee. Gutman accused his opponent in the 1998 senatorial election of using voodoo against him after Santería paraphernalia was tossed at him and scattered on his vehicle by his opponent's supporters; Gutman won the election.

Gutman died on February 16, 2019, at his home in Miami, Florida.