Margolis ‘set a mark in history’

First woman to lead state Senate dies at 85

Gwen Margolis, a trailblazing figure in Florida and Miami-Dade politics who served as the first female to lead the male-dominated state

Senate, died late Monday. She was 85.

Margolis, a Democrat, served a total of

30 years in the state

Legislature, over three different stretches that began in 1974 and ended in 2016, when she decided not to seek another term. She served in the House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980. After that, she was elected to the Senate. She reached its top job in 1990 and became the first woman to lead any state Senate in the country.

Over the course of her 42-year career in public office, Margolis was a champion of women’s rights, pushing for the Equal Rights Amendment early in her career and frequently becoming the first in nearly all of her leadership endeavors.

She was the first woman to chair the powerful Finance and Tax Committees in both the House and the Senate and the Senate Appropriations Committee, powerful positions that require skills of diplomacy and attention to detail. And Margolis was the first woman to chair the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Her counterpart in the House for her two-year term as Senate president was the late T.K. Wetherell, and along with then-Gov. Lawton Chiles, their tenure

marked the end of the era when Florida government was controlled by Democrats.

Margolis ran for Congress in a redistricted seat in 1992, but lost to Republican E. Clay Shaw, Jr. She served on the Miami-Dade County Commission and returned to the Senate from 2002 to 2008, and again from 2010 to 2016.

“Senator Margolis shattered glass ceilings in 1990 when she ascended, with the support of her peers, as the first woman to serve as Senate president,” said Allison Tant, the former Democratic Party chairperson when Margolis retired. “She set a mark in history that will always be remembered and one that the Democratic Party is forever grateful for.”

Former state Rep. David Richardson, whose Miami Beach district included parts of Margolis’, said she took a special interest in mentoring him.

“She always made herself available whenever I had questions,’’ he said. “Her first piece of advice for me, she said: ‘David, get on the Appropriations Committees, follow the money, everything’s about money,’ ’’ he recalled. “I will miss her, and our entire community will miss her.”

During the state fiscal crisis of 1990, the state considered ending summer school until her grandchildren wrote her a letter urging her not to. She found a way avoid it.

“What I will remember the most, she drove me to school from the time I was 7 years old until seventh grade,” said Ron Book, a veteran lobbyist and longtime friend. “When she got to the Senate, she had the ability to be one of the good ‘ol boys,’’ getting along with Senate veterans Dempsey Barron, W.D. Childers and Mallory Horne. “She was never afraid to put the cowboy boots on but always had a line about high-heeled shoes and they never could take it out of her.”

She earned such commitment and respect that the wife of the late-Dempsey Barron, Terri Jo Barron, returned to the Senate to work for Margolis, Book recalled.

Margolis’ last campaign ended abruptly. She was a heavy favorite in the sixway primary but stumbled badly and bowed out after dismissively referring to her opponents as “three Haitians, some teacher and some lawyer,” during a local Democratic meeting.

Margolis was elected to the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame and has several public facilities named for her in North Miami-Dade: Sen. Gwen Margolis Community Center in North Miami, Sen. Gwen Margolis Park in Sunny Isles Beach and Sen. Gwen Margolis Amphitheater in North Miami Beach. She was formerly married to Allan Margolis. She is survived by four children, seven grandchildren and a brother.

Margolis