FitzGerald Bemiss, known as Gerry Bemiss, was an American businessman and philanthropist who served in the Virginia General Assembly, representing the City of Richmond, Virginia, in first the House of Delegates, and later the Senate.
15 Facts About FitzGerald Bemiss
1.
2.
FitzGerald Bemiss was born on October 2,1922, in Richmond, Virginia to Samuel Merrifield Bemiss and Dorothy FitzGerald Bemiss.
3.
FitzGerald Bemiss attended the University of Virginia for two years, leaving to volunteer for military service after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
4.
FitzGerald Bemiss was a nephew of Titanic survivor Robert Williams Daniel and a cousin of five term US Congressman Robert Daniel.
5.
FitzGerald Bemiss, a wealthy businessman was a conservative Democrat who initially was part of the Byrd Organization, but later joined the Republican Party in the 1950s when many Southern Democrats dissatisfied with the policies of desegregation enacted during the administration of Democratic President Harry Truman left the party.
6.
FitzGerald Bemiss served on the Board of Directors of State Planters Bank from 1963 until 1992, and on the James River Paper Company board from 1972 until 1995.
7.
FitzGerald Bemiss served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the City of Richmond from 1955 to 1959 during the Massive Resistance crisis.
Related searches
Robert Daniel 8.
FitzGerald Bemiss was appointed first to the Gray Commission, which had been created to respond to the US Supreme Court's decisions overturning racial segregation in public schools.
9.
FitzGerald Bemiss was skeptical of its attempts to close schools that complied with desegregation orders, which the General Assembly later adopted as part of the Stanley Plan.
10.
FitzGerald Bemiss was replaced by fellow Democrat J Sargeant Reynolds.
11.
FitzGerald Bemiss advocated conservation and open space easements as well as other tax subsidies to preserve ecological and historic resources.
12.
FitzGerald Bemiss later served on the Virginia Commission on Outdoor Recreation.
13.
FitzGerald Bemiss served trustee and President of the Virginia Historical Society and of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, as well as treasurer of the Sheltering Arms hospital in Richmond, and as a director of the Children's Home Society.
14.
FitzGerald Bemiss donated US$1 million to the medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
15.
FitzGerald Bemiss, who suffered from Parkinson's disease after his retirement, died on February 7,2011, in Richmond.