Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to speak at Grove City College
GROVE CITY — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will speak at the 134th annual commencement ceremony at Grove City College on Saturday.
Bush, currently the head of a consulting company, served as the Sunshine State's governor from 1999 to 2007.
Born and raised in Texas, Bush moved to Florida in 1981 where he and a partner started a real estate development company that grew to become the largest, full-service commercial real estate company in South Florida.
Bush served as Florida's secretary of commerce in the late 1980s and promoted the state's business climate worldwide. He made an unsuccessful bid for governor in 1994 and afterward went on to found the nonprofit Foundation for Florida's Future, which joined forces with the Greater Miami Urban League to establish one of the state's first charter schools, and co-authored Profiles in Character, a book profiling 14 of Florida's civic heroes.
He was elected governor in 1998 and focused on reforming education. Florida students made great gains and the state became one of a handful to narrow the achievement gap.
In addition, Bush cut taxes every year during his tenure and put Florida on the forefront of consumer health care advances by signing landmark Medicaid reform legislation in 2006.
He will receive an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at the ceremony.
Bush is the son of President George H.W. Bush and brother of President George W. Bush. He lives in Miami with his wife Columba, and they have three children and three grandchildren.He is not the first Bush to speak at the college. Former first lady Laura Bush addressed the college's graduates in May 2011.
