Maurice Ferre

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Maurice A. Ferre (born June 23, 1935) is a former mayor; Ferre was the first United States mayor born in Puerto Rico and the first Hispanic mayor of Miami.

1 Early years
2 Later years
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Early years

Ferre born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, was born into a wealthy Puerto Rican family. He was the son of businessman Jose Ferre and nephew of the former governor of Puerto Rico Luis A. Ferre. Ferre's father Jose visited Miami, Florida in the 1920's and wondered why the city did not have any tall buildings.^[1]He then ventured into construction and real estate development in Miami. Ferre was born when Jose and his family returned to his hometown, Ponce in Puerto Rico.

From 1993 to 1996, Ferre was Vice-Chairman of the Dade County Board of Commissioners. He has been active in national political campaigns and he was a member of several presidential advisory boards. Ferre has also worked as a banker and business consultant and has held various research and teaching posts.

On December 20, 1995, Francisco Ferre Malaussena, Mariana Gomez de Ferre, and Felipe Antonio Ferre Gomez, the son, daughter-in-law, and grandson of Maurice Ferre, died when American Airlines Flight 965 crashed into a mountain in Colombia.^[2]^[3]

In November 2001, Maurice Ferre lost his bid to be reelected Mayor of Miami.^[4]

[edit] Later years

Ferre is on a fellowship at Princeton University and is writing a book about the contributions Hispanics have made to the American culture. Ferre is one of the driving forces behind the INTERMESTIC (stands for "International" - "Domestic") dialogue, which attempts to seek consensus regarding Puerto Rico's political status problem from an "international" as well as "domestic" point of view. He most recently spoke about this effort to deal with Puerto Rico's political status in an address to the Puerto Rico Senate as keynote speaker during the Governors' Day special session on February 16, 2006.^[5]