Who is Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and why does he keep paying for programs the government cuts?

Although he has been a major philanthropist for years, attorney and developer Hugh Culverhouse Jr. has stepped up several times this year to provide money for programs that county and state officials failed to fund.

His latest gift, made with his wife, Eliza, was $107,643 to support the Embracing Our Differences art display on the Sarasota Bayfront. Sarasota County commissioners voted against the organization receiving $46,696 in tourist tax funds, and it lost a $60,947 state grant when Gov. Ron DeSantis eliminated all arts funding across the state .

Who is Hugh Culverhouse Jr.?

He is the CEO of Palmer Ranch Holdings Ltd. , in Sarasota, a 15,000 acre master-planned community, which he has overseen for three decades. He is also an attorney and served as a U.S. attorney in Miami.

Who were his parents?

He is the son of Hugh Culverhouse Sr., and his wife, Joy . Culverhouse Sr., was a businessman, attorney, prosecutor, and most famously, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He owned the Palmer Ranch development, which Culverhouse Jr. now runs.

How much did the Culverhouses get for the Bucs?

Hugh Culverhouse Sr., paid $16 million for the rights to start an NFL expansion team in Tampa in 1974. He sold the Buccaneers in 1995 to Malcolm Glazer, whose family still owns it. The sales price was not publicly revealed but was estimated to be about $192 million, the most ever for a professional franchise at the time.

Where does he live?

Culverhouse was born and raised in Alabama. He has homes in Coral Gables and Sarasota and maintains an office in Palmer Ranch.

Taking a stand on abortion with the University of Alabama Law School

Over many years, the Culverhouses made donations of more than $40 million to the University of Alabama Law School, including a $26.5 million gift, the largest in the history of the school. The name was changed to the Hugh F. Culverhouse Jr. School of Law. But that changed months later after the Alabama legislature approved the nation’s most restrictive anti-abortion law. Culverhouse called for a boycott of the school until the law was changed . The chancellor of the University of Alabama System recommended the school return his gift and remove his name from the school. Eliza Culverhouse has also donated significant sums to the University of Alabama, where a new dance theater inside a performing arts building will be named for her.

Challenging other developers in court

In 2015, a jury decided that prominent Sarasota developers Randy Benderson and Henry Rodriguez used backroom political deals with elected officials and held secret meetings to doublecross Hugh Culverhouse Jr ., their one-time partner in a major land deal. The jury awarded Culverhouse more than $20 million in damages in a case that ran for more than four years. The judge later ruled there wasn’t a legal basis for the jury decision and reduced the damages to $153,000.

Culverhouse has had influence in local elections

Eric Robinson, former chairman of the Sarasota County Republic party and a former Sarasota County School Board member, told Sarasota Magazine that Culverhouse had influence in several election cycles, including the election of Democrat Margaret Good as a state representative and the approval of election districts for county commissioners. Robinson said Culverhouse tipped the scales. “Hugh is motivated by doing what he believes is the right thing , not just what’s best for Hugh. Those people always fight the hardest.”

Supporting Trump after his conviction

Days after former President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts of fraud by a New York court, Culverhouse announced he was donating $500,000 to the Trump presidential campaign because he thought the case was politically motivated. The former assistant U.S. attorney and trial attorney, said he was not a fan of the former president, but thought the justice system was being manipulated. “The judicial system can not be used as a political tool,” he told the Herald Tribune. “The Democrats crossed the line in this persecution, the same I would say if the Republicans treated President Biden this way.”

Filling in the gaps with government funding cuts

In March, Hugh Culverhouse made what he said was a one-time gift of $109,000 to United Way Sarasota to cover the cost of the 211helpline service after county commissioners cut funding. He said it was important for the mentally ill and elderly population. He earlier made up a $150,000 shortfall in public funding to maintain the Sarasota County Comprehensive Treatment Court program to help get those with mental health disorders into treatment programs instead of jail. Culverhouse has donated more than $70 million to charities over the years. On July 22, the Culverhouses announced a gift of $107,643 to Embracing Our Differences after funding was cut by county commissioners and by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He said, “it struck me as ridiculous that you would have government entities taking away from something that is so vital.”

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Who is Hugh Culverhouse Jr. and why does he keep paying for programs the government cuts?