Maurice Ferré — MiamiSway

Lived / active: 1935–2019
Role: Mayor of the City of Miami (1973–1985)
Associated with: Downtown Miami · LatAm Capital Era
In a sentence: An early Latino big-city mayor who governed Miami through the years it became a Latin American hub.

The Arc

Maurice Ferré was born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in 1935, into a prominent business family, and was educated in the United States. He settled in Miami and entered local politics, winning a seat on the Miami City Commission before being elected mayor of the City of Miami in 1973. He held the office until 1985, serving six terms and becoming one of the longest-tenured mayors in the city's history.

His mayoralty is frequently described as the first by a Latino in a major U.S. mainland city. After leaving the mayor's office, he served on the Miami-Dade County Commission and later ran for several other offices, including the U.S. Senate. He died in 2019.

Why They Matter

Ferré led Miami during the stretch when the city's population and business orientation shifted decisively toward Latin America. His tenure overlapped with the turbulent early 1980s and with the early planning that reshaped Downtown Miami, including efforts that fed into the area's later revival. As an early Latino mayor of a large U.S. city, he is a recurring reference point in accounts of Miami's transformation into a Latin American business capital that happens to sit inside U.S. borders.

Neighborhoods: Downtown Miami Eras: The Latam Capital Era / The Cocaine Cowboys Era