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Melquíades Rafael Martínez Ruiz, usually known as Mel Martínez (born October 23, 1946), is an American lobbyist and former politician who served as United States senator from Florida and served as chairman of the Republican Party from November 2006 until October 19, 2007, the first Latino to serve as chairman of a major party. Previously, Martínez served as the 12th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President George W. Bush. Martínez is a Cuban-American and Roman Catholic. He announced he was resigning as chairman of the Republican National Committee on October 19, 2007.〔(Sen. Martínez quits as RNC chairman ) from USA Today〕 Martínez resigned his United States Cabinet post on December 12, 2003, to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in Florida being vacated by retiring Democratic Senator Bob Graham. Martínez secured the Republican nomination and narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, Betty Castor. His election made him the first Cuban-American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Furthermore, he and Ken Salazar (who is Mexican-American) 〔(Fast facts: Explanation of Ken Salazar's ancestry ) from Time Magazine〕 were the first Hispanic U.S. Senators since 1977. They were joined by a third, Bob Menéndez (who is also Cuban-American) in January 2006, until Salazar resigned from the Senate on January 20, 2009, to become Secretary of the Interior. On December 2, 2008, Martínez announced he would not be running for re-election to the Senate in 2010. On August 7, 2009, CNN and the ''Orlando Sentinel'' reported that Martínez would be resigning from his Senate seat. Later that month, Governor Charlie Crist announced that he would appoint George LeMieux as the successor to Martínez for the remaining year and a half of the Senate term.〔http://martinez.senate.gov/public/?p=NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=d5137a13-cab7-44a1-ae3e-e172600f83d4〕 Two weeks after Martínez resigned his Senate seat, ''The Hill'' reported that he would become a lobbyist and partner at international firm DLA Piper. He left DLA Piper in August 2010 to become chairman of Chase Bank Florida and its operations in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean.〔Orlando Sentinel (2010). (Mel Martinez to be Fla. chairman for JPMorgan Chase ). Retrieved September 9, 2010.〕 Martinez is currently chairman of the Southeast and Latin America for JPMorgan, Chase & Co.〔Florida Trend (2013). (). Retrieved July 29, 2013.〕 Martínez also serves as a co-chair of the Housing Commission at the Bipartisan Policy Center.〔() Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission〕 ==Early life== Martínez was born in Sagua La Grande, Cuba, to Gladys V. (Ruíz) and Melquíades C. Martínez.〔(Melquíades C. Martínez Gladys V. Ruíz ) 〕 He came to the United States in 1962 as part of a Roman Catholic humanitarian effort called Operation Peter Pan, which brought into the U.S. more than 14,000 children. Catholic charitable groups provided Martinez a temporary home at two youth facilities. At the time Martínez was alone and spoke virtually no English. He subsequently lived with two foster families, and in 1966 was reunited with his family in Orlando. Martínez received an associate degree from Orlando Junior College in 1967, a bachelor's degree in international affairs from Florida State University, and his Juris Doctor degree from Florida State University College of Law in 1973. He began his legal career working at the Orlando personal injury law firm Wooten Kimbrough, where he became a partner and worked for more than a decade. During his 25 years of law practice in Orlando, he was involved in various civic organizations. He served as vice-president of the board of Catholic Charities of the Orlando Diocese. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mel Martínez」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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