Senate plans to honor Geraldine Thompson in Tallahassee

The Senate will hold a memorial service next week to honor Sen. Geraldine Thompson, who died last month.

The service to remember Thompson’s life is scheduled for noon Thursday in the Senate Chambers.

Afterward, Senators and Thompson’s family will eat in the Senate lounge.

Senate President Ben Albritton also announced that the 2024-26 Senate Handbook given out to visitors and student groups at the Capitol is dedicated to Thompson.

The service comes after Albritton, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost and other Central Florida leaders paid homage to Thompson last week at Majestic Life Church in Orlando, according to media reports.

Thompson, 76, a Democrat with a long history of activism and a career in education, died following complications from surgery.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has not set a Special Election to fill her seat.

Thompson had been a leader representing Orlando for years.

She served in the House from 2006-2012 and then again from 2018-2022. She was a Senator from 2012-2016 and then again in 2022, and for the current term she had been named the Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee on pre-K-12 Education.

Before becoming a legislator, Thompson was the director of the Wells’Built Museum of American-American History in Orlando’s Parramore district. 

Thompson was once described as “at the epicenter of Black history in Orlando” by the Orlando Sentinel.

“Senator Geraldine Thompson was a true trailblazer in Florida politics. A lifelong public servant and a fighter for civil rights, her impact on Florida stretched far beyond the average elected official,” the Florida Democratic Party said in a statement at the time of her death. “Over the course of her career, she championed expanding access to healthcare, giving our kids the education they deserve, and preserving Black history and culture — most notably with the establishment of the Wells’Built Museum of African American History and Culture in Orlando. 

“The Florida Democratic Party mourns with her family, friends, and constituents. May we all work to live up to her legacy.”

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