Ryan DeGraffenried

William Ryan deGraffenried, Jr. (April 2, 1950 – December 7, 2006) was an American politician who served as President Pro Tempore of the Alabama State Senate from 1987 to 1995.

DeGraffenried was a graduate of the University of Alabama and the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University. He represented Tuscaloosa in the Alabama State Senate from 1978 until 1994 and served as the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, from 1987 until 1994. He was elected to the Senate in a special election when then- State Sen. Richard Shelby was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to fill the vacancy of Walter Flowers.

After Governor H. Guy Hunt was removed from office due to criminal conviction, the Lieutenant Governor, Jim Folsom, Jr. became the new governor. DeGraffenried, as the President Pro Tempore of the state Senate, became next in line for the governorship for the remainder of the quadrennium.

DeGraffenried ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 1994, losing the Democratic primary to future Governor Don Siegelman. He then returned to practicing law in Tuscaloosa and later became a contract lobbyist.

His father, Ryan DeGraffenried, Sr., was also a notable Alabama politician.

He died unexpectedly of undisclosed natural causes in 2006 while attending a conference in Hoover, Alabama, aged 56.