Quick Facts
Biography
William Venroe Chappell Jr. (February 3, 1922 – March 30, 1989) was a U.S. Representative from Florida.
Born in Kendrick, Florida, Chappell was in the University of Florida, B.A., 1947, LL.B., 1949, and J.D., 1967. He served in the United States Navy, aviator from 1942 to 1946. He retired as a captain from United States Naval Reserve in 1983. He was a Marion County prosecuting attorney from 1950 to 1954.
Chappell was elected to Florida House of Representatives from 1954 to 1964, speaker from 1961 to 1963. He did not seek reelection in 1964 but was elected again in 1966. He served as member of the law firm of Chappell and Rowland, Ocala, Florida.
Chappell was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-first and to the nine succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1969 – January 3, 1989). He married the former Jeane Brown on September 28, 1985.
Chappell was a moderate to conservative Democrat and served on the United States House Appropriations Committee. At the time of his defeat he was serving as chairman of the United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1988 to the One Hundred First Congress. He was a resident of Ocala, Florida, until his death in Bethesda, Maryland, on March 30, 1989 from bone cancer.
The Port Orange Causeway, spanning the Halifax River, in Port Orange, Florida, was named the Congressman William V. Chappell Jr. Memorial Bridge by the Florida Legislature in 1989.