State Sen. Geraldine Thompson dies at 76 after complications from knee surgery

Yahoo

14-02-2025

State Sen. Geraldine Thompson, a long-time Central Florida lawmaker, died after complications from knee replacement surgery, her family announced late Thursday.
Thompson, 76, a Democrat, served in the Florida Legislature for nearly all of the last 18 years. She was remembered as a trailblazer and civil rights icon, with many local politicians offering tributes after her family shared news of her death.
Her family said she would be remembered for her achievements but also as their beloved matriarch.
'Senator Geraldine Thompson was so much more than a dedicated public servant and visionary leader,' the statement released by the Thompson family said. 'She was a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother whose love, wisdom and compassion shaped their lives and the lives of so many in their community and across the state.'
Thompson was a former Valencia College administrator and the founder of the Wells'Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando. She represented parts of Orlando and western Orange County in the Florida House from 2006 to 2012 and again from 2018 to 2022, while she served in the Florida Senate from 2012 to 2016 and from 2022 until her death. She had just been reelected in November.
She worked for years to get the state's public schools to improve the teaching of Black history, pushed last year for the state to select Eatonville — the historically Black town in her district — as the site of a proposed Florida Black history museum, and spoke out in 2023 against the state's new African American history standards she argued offered school children a watered-down version of America's past.
'It's an attempt to whitewash our history,' she said after the standards were approved.
Her longtime friend Linda Chapin, Orange County's first mayor, remembered Thompson's role in the Central Florida community dating back to the 1970s.
'It's important to remember, because Senator Thompson has been such a force in the last decades, that it was a difficult beginning,' Chapin said. '…Orange County did not integrate its schools until [the 70s] even though Brown v. Board of Education had passed considerably before that. So this was still a conservative community.'
Chapin said Thompson was well known and admired for always speaking her convictions.
'You never wondered where she was. You never wondered if she was going to do something convenient or political,' she said. 'Geraldine spoke the truth as she saw it…She was almost always right.'
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, who served with Thompson in the Legislature, said she was inspired by the lawmaker when she met her while a student at the University of Central Florida.
'Whether it was reproductive rights, voter rights and fighting for Black history, she always just picked up that microphone with such grit and grace,' Eskamani said.
U.S. Rep Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, called Thompson a 'force' and a 'trailblazer' in a statement. 'For nearly 20 years in the Florida Legislature, she broke barriers and created opportunities, especially for Black and Brown communities and those too often overlooked. She paved the way for many, including myself, to step up and serve our communities,' he said.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings remembered her as a 'tireless advocate for the underprivileged.'
Senate President Ben Albritton, a Republican, shared news of her death in a letter to Senate colleagues. He said she was a 'force to be reckoned with,' a lawmaker known for her passion for education. Her 'watchful eye, cheerful smile, and thoughtful, well-researched, and spirted debate will be greatly missed,' he said.
Thompson was born in New Orleans and moved to Florida as a young child, according to her biography on the Florida Senate's website. She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Miami and a master's from Florida State University. She and her husband, Emerson, had three children and six grandchildren, the website said, and lived in Windermere.