Preceded by Don Fuqua Succeeded by Douglas Peterson | Occupation Banking Name James Grant | |
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Born February 21, 1943 (age 81)
Lake City, Florida, U.S. ( 1943-02-21 ) Political party Democrat
Republican (since 1989) | ||
James William "Bill" Grant (born September 21, 1943) is an American banker and former politician from Madison, Florida.
A graduate of Florida State University, he attended the University of Florida for graduate studies. He represented Florida's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. Congress from 1987 to 1991. After being elected as a Democrat from the Tallahassee-based 2nd District to succeed 12-term Democrat Don Fuqua, he switched parties to become a Republican in 1989.
He was defeated for reelection in U.S. House election, 1990 by Douglas Peterson, and ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 1992, losing to incumbent Bob Graham. He is a fifth generation Floridian whose family has lived in North Florida since before statehood. He is a former Member of the Florida State Senate and the United States Congress and his party’s nominee to the U.S. Senate. Prior to beginning his political career, he organized and ran several North Florida commercial banks and was twice elected president of the Florida Bankers Association.
After leaving politics, he organized and now serves as CEO of MK Meridian, Inc., an international conflict resolution, trade, and diplomatic advisory firm. In that capacity, he has mediated numerous sovereign and commercial conflicts across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He helped organize the United Africa Association, a 13-nation effort for promoting pan-African self-help, free-enterprise capitalism, and democracy.
In 1997, with the assistance of the government of Egypt, he negotiated the end to the first Somali civil war and authored a draft constitutional government for that nation. He has been the senior advisor to two sovereign foreign governments and twice served as Special United States Congressional Envoy to international trouble spots. He served as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Chemical, LLC, a multi-faceted chemical production facility in Ukraine with 11,000 employees and a worldwide market.
Family
Grant is married to the former Janet Krawiec; they have two children; Madison Kathleen and Kinsey Regan. He has two children from a previous marriage: John Alan and Carter Richmond.