28 Facts About Bob Martinez

Robert Martinez was born on December 25,1934 and is an American retired politician who served as the 40th governor of Florida from 1987 to 1991.

Bob Martinez was born and raised in Tampa, Florida, attended the University of Tampa, and began his career as an educator in the local public school system and then the University of Tampa.

Bob Martinez first entered politics with an unsuccessful run for mayor of Tampa in 1974, then won the office in Tampa's next mayoral election in 1979 and was reelected in 1983.

Bob Martinez resigned the position in 1986 to focus on his ultimately successful campaign for the governorship of Florida.

Bob Martinez lost his reelection campaign to US Senator Lawton Chiles in 1990.

Bob Martinez held that position from 1991 until 1993 when he returned to Tampa and became a business consultant and a board member of several local educational organizations.

Bob Martinez was born in Tampa, Florida on December 25,1934, the only child of Serafin Martinez and Ida Carreno Martinez.

Bob Martinez's mother was a seamstress and his father was a waiter at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, and the family lived in Ybor City and West Tampa during his youth.

Bob Martinez graduated from Jefferson High School in 1953 and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Tampa in 1957.

Bob Martinez went back to college and earned a master's degree in labor and industrial relations at the University of Illinois in 1964, then returned to Tampa and worked as a business labor consultant and an economics instructor at the University of Tampa.

In 1965, Bob Martinez was named the executive director of the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, the local teachers' union in Hillsborough County.

In 1974, Bob Martinez unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Tampa against William "Bill" Poe.

Bob Martinez resigned as executive director of the HCTA in 1975 and was appointed vice-chairman of the Southwest Florida Water Management District by Florida Governor Reubin Askew.

Bob Martinez ran Cafe Sevilla, his family's restaurant in West Tampa.

Bob Martinez campaigned for mayor against Poe again in 1979 and won.

In early 1985, Bob Martinez began actively exploring the possibility of running for governor of Florida, and he formally announced his candidacy in November of that year.

Bob Martinez proposed the Surface Water Improvement Management Act that protects Florida's surface waters, including Lake Okeechobee, Tampa Bay, Lake Jackson, the Kissimmee River, and other areas.

Bob Martinez helped get Florida's first solid waste management law passed and implemented Florida's Growth Management Act.

Bob Martinez was an advocate of laws and rules that protected manatees and dolphins.

Bob Martinez aggressively sought to eliminate wasteful spending projects sponsored by members of the legislature and increased spending on the state's drug control programs.

The response from Floridians was strongly negative, so only two months after the tax went into effect, Bob Martinez called the legislature back for a special session to repeal it.

In 1989, Bob Martinez vowed to "clear Death Row" and signed over 90 death warrants, with only nine of them being successful, including the warrant signed for Ted Bundy.

That same year Bob Martinez ordered state prosecutors to determine whether Miami-area rappers 2 Live Crew's album Nasty as They Wanna Be violated Florida obscenity laws.

In 1990, Time magazine referred to Bob Martinez as "embattled" as he authorized a statewide television advertisement campaign boasting about his deeds, which were largely unpopular.

Bob Martinez was unpopular within his own party by the time of the 1990 gubernatorial election, in which he suffered a landslide defeat against Democratic nominee, former United States Senator Lawton Chiles.

Since then, Bob Martinez has served as a consultant to Florida-based businesses and law firms and is a political analyst for Bay News 9 television.

Bob Martinez is a trustee of the University of Tampa, and a director of the Hillsborough Education Foundation, Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo and the Tampa Bay History Center, all local nonprofit groups involved in some way with education.

Bob Martinez married the former Mary Jane Marino in 1954, soon after they graduated from Tampa Jefferson High School.