Doyle Conner

{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Doyle Conner.jpg | image_size = 200px | caption = Conner in 1982 | order = | office1 = 7th Agriculture Commissioner of Florida | term_start1 = January 3, 1961 | term_end1 = January 1991 | governor1 = {{Collapsible list|title=''See list''|1=C. Farris Bryant (1961–1965) W. Haydon Burns (1965–1967) Claude R. Kirk, Jr. (1967–1971) Reubin Askew (1971–1979) Bob Graham (1979–1987) Wayne Mixson (1987) Bob Martinez (1987–1991)}} | predecessor1 = Lee Thompson | successor1 = Bob Crawford | office2 = Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives | order2 = | term_start2 = January 3, 1957 | term_end2 = January 3, 1959 | predecessor2 = Thomas E. David | successor2 = Thomas D. Beasley | office3 = Member of the Florida House of Representatives from Bradford County | term_start3 = January 2, 1951 | term_end3 = January 3, 1961 | predecessor3 = Jake Perman Roberts<ref name="Archive" /> | successor3 = A. J. Thomas Jr.<ref name="Archive">{{cite web|title=Membership of the Florida House of Representatives by County 1845-2016|publisher=Florida House of Representatives|url=http://www.myfloridahouse.com/FileStores/Web/HouseContent/Approved/ClerksOffice//house_counties_final.pdf|date=2016|accessdate=January 1, 2017}}</ref> | birth_name = Doyle Edward Conner | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|12|17}} | birth_place = Starke, Florida | death_date = {{death date and age|2012|12|16|1928|12|17}} | death_place = Monticello, Florida | profession = Farmer | party = Democratic Party | footnotes = | website = }}

'''Doyle Edward Conner Sr.''' (December 17, 1928 – December 16, 2012) was an American politician. He served as Florida Commissioner of Agriculture for 30 years, and also served as Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.<ref>[http://florida4h.org/foundation/HallofFame/ConnerDoyle.shtml background information] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726061332/http://florida4h.org/foundation/HallofFame/ConnerDoyle.shtml |date=July 26, 2011 }}</ref> He was born in 1928 in Starke, Florida.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_5Q8AAAAIAAJ&q=%22Conner,+Doyle%22+AND+%221928%22 |title=Outstanding Young Men of America - Google Books |year=1965 |accessdate=2012-12-17}}</ref>

==Early life== Conner was a fourth generation Floridian. From an early age, he worked in the family business of raising cattle, growing strawberries, and cutting timber.<ref name="Citrus">{{cite web|title=Florida Citus Hall of Fame - Doyle Conner (1928)|publisher=Florida Citrus Mutual|url=http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?dd_asId=630|date=|accessdate=January 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102080910/http://floridacitrushalloffame.com/index.php/inductees/inductee-name/?dd_asId=630|archive-date=January 2, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> As a young man, Conner was active in 4-H, serving as president of the local and Alachua County branches of the club. At the age of 14, while attending a Florida Cooperative Extension Service forestry camp at a 4-H facility, Conner met the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Nathan Mayo, and proclaimed that he would, some day, become Agriculture Commissioner when Mayo retired.<ref name="Citrus" /><ref name="4-H">{{cite web|title=Florida 4-H Hall of Fame - Doyle Conner|publisher=University of Florida IFAS Extension|url=http://florida4h.org/foundation1/FL4H/ConnerD.htm|date=2009|accessdate=January 1, 2017}}</ref> In later life, Conner would remark that ''Without 4-H I would not be the person I am today, or have accomplished the things that I have.''<ref name="4-H" />

==Education== Conner attended the University of Florida<ref name="Education">{{cite web|title=Endowed Scholarships & Fellowships - Doyle Conner Scholarship|publisher=University of Florida|url=http://www.uff.ufl.edu/scholarships/ScholarshipInfo.asp?ScholarshipFund=002731|date=December 21, 2016|accessdate=January 2, 2017}}</ref> from 1947 until 1952 graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture.<ref name="JKSun">{{cite news |last1=Kennedy |first1=John |title=CONNER TO RETIRE NEXT YEAR |url=https://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/fl-xpm-1989-08-10-8902250282-story.html |access-date=17 February 2021 |publisher=The Sun Sentinel |date=August 10, 1989}}</ref> While in college he was also a member of Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity. In addition, he served as National FFA President and was inducted in the Florida FFA Hall of Fame in 2007.

==Political career== Conner served his entire political career as a Democrat. He was first elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1950, while he was still a student at the University of Florida. The feat earned Conner the nickname of "Boy Wonder", a label that stuck with him throughout his legislative career.<ref name="4-H" /> Conner represented Bradford County while serving in the lower house. In 1958, at the age of 28, he was elected as the youngest Speaker of the House. On January 2, 1961, Doyle Conner was inaugurated as Commissioner of Agriculture, succeeding Lee Thompson who assumed the post of interim Commissioner upon Nathan Mayo's death in office. Conner went on to serve as Florida's Agriculture for the next 30 years. During his tenure as Commissioner, Conner oversaw efforts to eliminate the giant African snail, hog cholera, the Mediterranean fruit fly, and the cattle screwworm.<ref name="Education" /> During the 1980s, Conner was embroiled in political controversy regarding the lethal citrus canker<ref name = "Political career">{{cite web|title=Florida Still Struggles Over the Citrus Canker|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/02/us/florida-still-struggles-over-the-citrus-canker.html|date=July 2, 1989|accessdate=April 17, 2019}}</ref> disease and Florida citrus nurseries. While serving in this post he served under 7 Governors of Florida.<ref>[http://www.florida-agriculture.com/videos/scripts/script_doyle_conner_years.htm Accomplishments as Commissioner of Agriculture]</ref> Conner retired in 1991, and was active in Florida 4-H for much of his remaining life. He was inducted into the Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame in 1985, the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Florida 4-H Hall of Fame in 2002.<ref name="Citrus" /><ref name="4-H" /><ref>{{cite web|title=Florida Agriculture Hall of Fame|publisher=Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services|url=http://www.freshfromflorida.com/Agriculture-Industry/Honors-and-Awards/Florida-Agricultural-Hall-of-Fame|date=2017|accessdate=January 2, 2017}}</ref>

==Death== Doyle Conner died at a nursing home in Monticello, Florida on December 16, 2012, one day before his 84th birthday.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.news4jax.com/news/Former-state-ag-commissioner-Doyle-Conner-dies/-/475880/17796578/-/format/rsss_2.0/-/hl00oqz/-/index.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130111064948/http://www.news4jax.com/news/Former-state-ag-commissioner-Doyle-Conner-dies/-/475880/17796578/-/format/rsss_2.0/-/hl00oqz/-/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-01-11 |title=Former state ag commissioner Doyle Conner dies | News - Home |publisher=News4jax.com |accessdate=2012-12-17 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110726061340/http://florida4h.org/foundation/FL4H/ConnerD.htm Official biography]

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Nathan Mayo}} {{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Florida Commissioner of Agriculture|years=1960, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986}} {{s-aft|after=Bob Crawford}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conner, Doyle E.}} Category:1928 births Category:2012 deaths Category:People from Starke, Florida Category:Speakers of the Florida House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Category:University of Florida College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni Category:Florida commissioners of agriculture Category:United States Foreign Service personnel Category:20th-century members of the Florida Legislature