Quick Facts
LibraBiography
David Sholtz (October 6, 1891 – March 21, 1953) was the 26th Governor of Florida.
Early life and education
Sholtz was born to Jewish parentsin 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, which enabled him to become a Florida lawyer without having to take the bar examination, as Florida then adhered to the diploma privilege. 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 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.
