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Jerry Abramson

Personal Profile

Jerry Abramson
  • Birth Name:
    Jerry Edwin Abramson
  • Date of Birth:
    September 12, 1946
  • Zodiac Sign:
    Virgo
  • Place of Birth:
    Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.
  • Sex:
    Male
  • Nationality:
    American
  • Religion:
    Judaism
  • Education:

    Seneca High School, Louisville, KY

    BS Business Economics, Indiana University Bloomington

    Georgetown University Law School

Family

Jerry Abramson
  • Spouse:
    Madeline
  • Son:
    Sidney

Career

Jerry Abramson

Trivia

Jerry Abramson
  • He lives in the Crescent Hill neighborhood with his wife, Madeline.
  • Abramson is the first person of Jewish faith to have served as mayor of Louisville.
  • Abramson was re-elected mayor in November 2006; his opponent was Metro Council member Kelly Downard (R).
  • One of Abramson's first actions as Metro Mayor was to appoint Robert C. White Chief of the troubled Louisville Metro Police Department, the first African-American to hold the post.
  • Abramson was easily elected Louisville's first Metro Mayor in 2002 by 73.4 percent of the vote over Republican challenger Jack Early, former mayor of Hurstbourne, Kentucky, a major suburb of Louisville.
  • Abramson practiced law with the Frost Brown Todd LLC firm and taught at Bellarmine University.
  • Abramson began the nonprofit civic beautification program Operation Brightside, led the $700 million expansion of Louisville International Airport, revitalized the city’s waterfront with the creation of Waterfront Park and expanded the local economy by recruiting the international headquarters for Tricon Global Restaurants (known as Yum! Brands, Inc. today), Presbyterian Church (USA) and UPS Air Hub 2000.
  • Abramson's tenure as mayor from 1985 to 1998 was marked by high popularity as Louisville's economy grew and the decline in urban population that began in the 1950s slowed greatly.

Biography

Jerry Abramson
Last Updated: Thursday, September 17, 2009

Jerry Edwin Abramson is a Democratic politician who isthe longest serving Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky. Before his current term as the Metro Mayor of the merged city-county government Louisville Metro (a merger he championed), Abramson was the only person to have served three terms as Mayor of Louisville, fulfilling the allowed term limit. Abramson's original third term was extended by one year as part of a state-mandated transition to align the dates of local and federal elections.

Abramson's long period of service to Louisville as its mayor, as well as the fact that Abramson has never faced strong opposition in mayoral elections heretofore, has led to the nickname of "mayor for life" being used locally, including by Louisville's own popular radio personality Terry Meiners. Abramson's popularity has resulted in Bluegrass Poll approval ratings ranging from a 91 percent high in 1990 to a 73 percent low in 1994.

From 1993 to 1994, he was President of the United States Conference of Mayors. He is currently a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino. On July 19, 2009, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear announced that Abramson would be his running mate in his re-election campaign in 2011.

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