Sandra Warshaw Freedman

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Sandra Warshaw Freedman graduated with a degree in Government from the University of Miami. She started serving on the Tampa City Council in 1974 and became Tampa’s first woman Mayor in 1986. She launched the Mayor’s Challenge Fund, a housing initiative for residents who did not qualify for conventional financing to own their own homes. She also appointed a substantial number of minorities and women to top management positions in City Government and instituted a policy prohibiting city employees from using racist, sexist and religious slurs. Mayor Freedman started the first Women and Minority Business Enterprise program and organized Tampa’s first March against hate crimes. Sandra “Sandy” Freedman is married to attorney Michael Freedman and the couple has three children. She is retired but remains actively involved in civic affairs.