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Raymer F. Maguire Jr.

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(1921-2003)
“Father of Valencia Community College”

Raymer F. Maguire Jr.

Raymer F. Maguire Jr. was a man devoted to his family, to his community and to his profession. A member of the pioneering Maguire family of Ocoee, Fla., Maguire Jr. was the son and namesake of Raymer F. Maguire (JD 15), a man influential in his own right as a former UF student body president, a member of the first Honor Graduate Class of the University of Florida College of Law, and a member of the Florida Board of Control who received the President’s Medal for Service and was later in life honored as an outstanding UF alumnus.

Following his graduation from Storm King Preparatory School in Cornwall, N.Y., Maguire Jr. returned to Florida to attend his father’s alma mater, the University of Florida, where he was inducted into the UF Hall of Fame and graduated with his bachelor’s in 1943. By then, World War II was well underway and Maguire joined the U.S. Army, serving as an artillery officer in the European theater.

Armistice was signed in 1945 and Maguire was discharged from the Army the following year with the rank of captain. He returned to UF to pursue a degree in law, graduating with his LL.B. in 1948. During his last year of law school Maguire was elected president of Florida Blue Key.

As a young attorney, Maguire joined the Orlando firm his father founded; Maguire, Voorhis and Wells. It was a setting with which Maguire was intimately familiar — as a kid he’d been put to work at the firm as errand boy, driver, and in various odd jobs. Maguire initially practiced insurance defense litigation, later moving to corporate litigation and becoming one of the state’s foremost experts in agricultural law. He settled down to family life after marrying Sara Corry in 1951 and became a partner in the firm in 1955. The firm merged with Holland & Knight in 1998.

Maguire was a man of strength, intellect and energy, and he was well known for his determination and backbone. A close friend, Sara Van Arsdel, once commented that in addition to being one of the smartest men she knew, Maguire “liked a good fight, but was very fair.” That sense of fair play motivated a life-long interest and involvement in his community, which he called “paying my civic rent.”

That service ethic engendered his strong support of higher education in the state and he had deep roots at the University of Florida — Maguire Village, a graduate housing complex, is named in Maguire’s father’s honor; Maguire’s aunt, Lillian Maguire, had been a teacher at UF’s P.K. Yonge Laboratory School in the 1930s; and Maguire’s stepmother, Dr. Charlotte E. Maguire, was a member of the clinical staff of UF’s department of pediatrics between 1980 and 1987. Maguire served as a founding member of UF’s President’s Council, and as a trustee of the UF Foundation for several decades. He was recognized as a UF Distinguished Alumnus in 1975. With his support, the Raymer F. Maguire Final Four Moot Court Competition, now known as the Raymer F. Maguire Appellate Advocacy Competition, was established at UF Law in 1986.

His interest in higher education was not limited to UF, and he is known as “the father of Valencia Community College.” A driving force in the institution’s establishment, Maguire served as the founding chair of Valencia’s Board of Trustees, helped establish Valencia’s foundation and personally endowed several chairs and funds. His role in Valencia’s creation is recognized on Valencia’s west campus with the Raymer F. Maguire Jr. Learning Resource Center. He also was the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree in public service the institution bestowed in recognition of his service.

Maguire was a devoted philanthropist and community leader in Central Florida. He was the president of the Orange County Historical Society, served on many corporate boards, including SunTrust Bank and the American Fire & Casualty Company, and in leadership roles for many community institutions, including the Orange County Citizens Committee for School Boards, Orlando Area Chamber of Commerce, Executive Committee of the Florida Heart Association and as director of Junior Achievement. His dedication to his community was recognized with the 2003 Philanthropist of the Year in Central Florida award by the Association for Fundraising Professionals. A member and elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, Maguire also served as a member and former president of the Kiwanis Club.

Maguire passed away in 2003. Though his voice is stilled, his legacy echoes on in the heart of his community.

Published: June 27th, 2014

Category: Alumni

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.