Senate Bill sb0014B

    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SR 14-B

    By Senator Wilson





    33-2700-03                                        See HR 9003B

  1                    Senate Resolution No. ____

  2         A resolution honoring the memory of Judge

  3         Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr.

  4  

  5         WHEREAS, Wilkie Demeritte Ferguson, Jr., son of

  6  Bahamian parents, was born in Miami on May 11, 1938, received

  7  his undergraduate degree from Florida Agricultural and

  8  Mechanical University, and served as an officer in the United

  9  States Army before earning a law degree from Howard University

10  School of Law in 1968 and launching a legal career as a staff

11  attorney for the Legal Services of Greater Miami, Inc., and

12         WHEREAS, in a succession of judicial appointments

13  beginning in 1973, Judge Ferguson rose from the Court of

14  Industrial Claims to become the first black jurist on the

15  Miami-Dade Circuit Court and, thereafter, on Florida's Third

16  District Court of Appeal before he was appointed in 1993 to

17  the United States District Court for the Southern District of

18  Florida, South Florida's second black to hold a federal

19  judgeship, and

20         WHEREAS, described as a pioneering jurist and crusading

21  rights activist whose soft-spoken, even-handed courtroom

22  manner cloaked a fierce sense of justice for the underdog,

23  Judge Ferguson is remembered for his first landmark case, in

24  which he found that blacks were systematically excluded from

25  juries of their peers, and is credited with significant

26  rulings that have vastly improved the quality of life for

27  thousands of disabled Florida residents, and

28         WHEREAS, Judge Ferguson, who was active in numerous

29  professional associations, the recipient of many prestigious

30  awards and honors, and, with his wife, Betty, involved in

31  community campaigns and charitable events, is spoken of as "a

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    Florida Senate - 2003        (NP)                      SR 14-B
    33-2700-03                                        See HR 9003B




 1  gentle man . . . a very kindly man" and a judge "whose life of

 2  public service exemplifies the standard for all citizens," and

 3         WHEREAS, on June 9, 2003, Judge Wilkie D. Ferguson,

 4  Jr., quietly and with customary dignity surrendered in his

 5  battle against leukemia, having fought a good fight that has

 6  left countless Floridians in his debt, NOW, THEREFORE,

 7  

 8  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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10         That the Florida Senate, with immense pride mixed with

11  extreme sadness, honors the memory of an outstanding citizen

12  and extends its sincere sympathy to the family, friends, and

13  associates of Judge Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr.

14         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this resolution,

15  with the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to his wife

16  Betty Tucker Ferguson; his daughter, Tawnicia Ferguson-Rowan;

17  and his son, Wilkie D. Ferguson III, as a tangible token of

18  the sentiments of the Florida Senate.

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