50 Notable alumni of
Miami Dade College
Updated:
Miami Dade College is 1228th in the world, 438th in North America, and 410th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 50 notable alumni from Miami Dade College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Oscar Isaac
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorstage actoractor
- Biography
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Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada is an American actor. Recognized for his versatility, he has been credited with breaking stereotypes about Latino characters in Hollywood. He was named the best actor of his generation by Vanity Fair in 2017 and one of the 25 greatest actors of the 21st century by The New York Times in 2020. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2016, he featured on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
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Steven Bauer
- Occupations
- film produceractorfilm actormusiciantelevision actor
- Biography
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Steven Bauer is an American actor.
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Victoria Principal
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actorentrepreneuractormodel
- Biography
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Vicki Ree Principal, later known as Victoria Principal, is an American actress, producer, entrepreneur, and author, best known for her role as Pamela Barnes Ewing on the American primetime television soap opera series Dallas. She spent nine years on the long-running series, leaving in 1987. Afterwards, she opened her own production company, Victoria Principal Productions, focusing mostly on television films. In the mid-1980s, she became interested in natural beauty therapies, and in 1989, she created an eponymous line of skincare products, Principal Secret.
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Harry Wayne Casey
- Occupations
- singer-songwritersingerrecord producer
- Biography
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Harry Wayne Casey, better known by his stage name KC, is an American record producer, musician, and songwriter. He is best known for his band, KC and the Sunshine Band, with co-founder Richard Finch. Casey has enjoyed success and recognition as a producer of several hits for other artists, and as a pioneer of the disco genre of the 1970s.
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Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio
- Occupations
- cheerleaderbank tellerdancer
- Biography
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Jeanette Christina Dousdebes Rubio is an American former pro cheerleader, who is married to United States Secretary of State and former Senator Marco Rubio.
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Michel Martelly
- Occupations
- musiciansinger-songwriterpolitician
- Biography
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Michel Joseph Martelly is a Haitian musician and politician who served as the 42nd president of Haiti from May 2011 until February 2016. On August 20, 2024, the United States sanctioned the former president for trafficking drugs, in particular cocaine, into the United States, and for sponsoring several gangs based in Haiti.
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Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
- Enrolled in Miami Dade College
- In 1972 graduated with associate degree
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is an American politician and lobbyist from Miami, Florida, who represented Florida's 27th congressional district from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most senior U.S. Representative from Florida. She was Chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee from 2011–2013. In 1989, Ros-Lehtinen won a special election and became the first Cuban American elected to Congress. She was also the first Republican woman elected to the House from Florida. Ros-Lehtinen gave the first Republican response to the State of the Union address in Spanish in 2011, and gave the third in 2014.
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María Elvira Salazar
- Occupations
- journalistpolitician
- Biography
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María Elvira Salazar is an American journalist, author, and politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 27th congressional district. She is a Republican assistant whip. Before entering politics, Salazar worked for the Spanish-language network Telemundo for three decades after serving as a news anchor for Miami-based WSBS TV. She has also worked for CNN Español and Univision.
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Al Cárdenas
- Occupations
- lawyerlobbyist
- Biography
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Alberto Remigio Cárdenas Pardo is a Cuban-born American lawyer, politician and conservative activist who is a partner in the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs and in the Advocacy Group at Cardenas Partners. He has been named as one of Washington D.C.'s top lobbyists by The Hill newspaper. Cardenas was a member of the Board of Trustees of Florida A&M University.
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Raúl Ibañez
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Raúl Javier Ibañez is an American former professional baseball left fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) now serving as vice president of baseball development and special projects for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He played 11 of his 19 big league seasons for the Seattle Mariners, while also playing for the Kansas City Royals, Philadelphia Phillies, New York Yankees, and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. While primarily a left fielder, Ibañez often saw considerable time as a designated hitter (DH), throughout his career.
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Mireya Moscoso
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez is a Panamanian politician who served as the President of Panama from 1999 to 2004. She is the country's first and to date only female president.
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Pedro Gomez
- Occupations
- journalistsports commentator
- Biography
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Pedro Gomez was an American sports journalist. He worked as a reporter for ESPN from 2003 to 2021, contributing to the network's SportsCenter show. He was primarily a baseball reporter and was also a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America who cast election votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He covered 25 World Series and 22 Major League Baseball All-Star Games.
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Mickey Rivers
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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John Milton "Mickey" Rivers is an American former baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball from 1970 to 1984 for the California Angels, New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. As a Yankee, he was part of two World Series championship teams, both defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers, in 1977 and 1978. "Mick The Quick" was generally known as a speedy leadoff hitter who made contact and was an excellent center fielder, with a below-average throwing arm.
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John Mica
- Enrolled in Miami Dade College
- Graduated with associate degree
- Occupations
- businesspersonpolitician
- Biography
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John Luigi Mica is an American businessman, consultant and Republican politician who represented Florida's 7th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2017. He was defeated by Democrat Stephanie Murphy in the November 8, 2016, general election while serving his 12th term in office.
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Joe Carollo
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Joseph Xavier Carollo is a Cuban-American politician who served as mayor of Miami from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2001. Following his loss in the 2001 mayoral election, he served as Doral, Florida city manager from January 2013 until his firing in April 2014; he was reinstated in June 2017, then immediately resigned. He successfully ran for election to the Miami city commission in 2017.
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Carlos Lopez-Cantera
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Carlos Lopez-Cantera is an American politician who served as the 19th lieutenant governor of Florida from 2014 to 2019.
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Alexander Torrenegra
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Alexander Torrenegra is a Colombian-American entrepreneur, inventor, and investor. He is the founder and CEO of Torre and has founded multiple companies including Voice123 and Bunny Studio. He is also one of the "shark" investors on Sony's reality television series, Shark Tank Colombia and Shark Tank Mexico. He was featured in MIT's list of Innovators Under 35 in 2012.
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Kurt Bevacqua
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Kurt Anthony Bevacqua is an American former professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder from 1971 to 1985. Bevacqua is notable for his performance during the 1984 World Series when he hit two home runs and had a.412 batting average as the San Diego Padres' designated hitter. He also played for the Mayaguez Indians in the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League from 1977 to 1981.
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Joe Garcia
- Enrolled in Miami Dade College
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- politiciandirectorlawyer
- Biography
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José Antonio Garcia Jr., known as Joe Garcia, is an American attorney and politician. Garcia represented Florida's 26th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015. A Democrat, Garcia represented most of western Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys in Congress.
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Nat Moore
- Occupations
- American football player
- Biography
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Nathaniel Moore is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons during the 1970s and 1980s. Moore played college football for the Florida Gators, and thereafter, he played professionally for the Miami Dolphins of the NFL. He is best known as a favorite passing target of Dolphins quarterbacks Bob Griese and Dan Marino. Nat Moore is also credited as football consultant in the 1977 movie Black Sunday.
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Yolett McPhee-McCuin
- Occupations
- basketball coachbasketball player
- Biography
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Yolett Alessia McPhee-McCuin is a Bahamian-American basketball coach who is the current head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels women's basketball team. Her team at Jacksonville University won the 2016 ASUN Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
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Madelaynne Montaño
- Occupations
- volleyball player
- Biography
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Madelaynne Montaño Caicedo is a volleyball player from Colombia, who won the silver medal at the 2012 FIVB Club World Championship playing with Rabita Baku.
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Randy Bush
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Robert Randall Bush is a former Major League Baseball player and current front office member of the Chicago Cubs. He played 12 seasons for the Minnesota Twins from 1982 to 1993, mainly as an outfielder and designated hitter, compiling 96 home runs, 409 RBIs, and a career batting average of.251 in 1,219 games with Minnesota.
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Cesar Santos
- Years
- 1982-.. (age 43)
- Occupations
- artist
- Biography
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Cesar Santos is a contemporary Cuban-American artist and portrait painter. He is better known for his body of work "Syncretism", a term he uses to describe paintings where he presents two or more art tendencies in aesthetic balance. He has completed numerous commissions and his work is held in private as well as public collections around the world.
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Ralph de la Vega
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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Ralph de la Vega is the former Vice Chairman of AT&T Inc. and CEO of AT&T Business Solutions and AT&T International. He has previously served as President & CEO of AT&T Mobile & Business Solutions; President and CEO of AT&T Mobility; COO of Cingular Wireless; President of BellSouth Latin America Operations; and the President of Broadband and Internet Services for BellSouth. He is also the author of the 2009 book Obstacles Welcome: How to Turn Adversity to Advantage in Business and Life. Ralph de la Vega retired December 31, 2016, after a 42-year career with AT&T.
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Paige McPherson
- Occupations
- taekwondo athlete
- Biography
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Paige Arielle "McFierce" McPherson is an Olympic taekwondo competitor from the United States.
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Raul L. Martinez
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Raúl L. Martínez is a former mayor of Hialeah, Florida, United States. He is a Democrat and was mayor for 24 years, first elected in 1981 and was the Democratic congressional candidate for Florida's 21st congressional district in 2008.
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Elsa Murano
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Elsa Alina Murano is a Cuban-born American executive who has been the Director of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture & Development at the Texas A&M University’s Agriculture & Life Sciences program since 2012. Prior to that, she served as the 23rd President of Texas A&M University from January 3, 2008, until her resignation on June 15, 2009.
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Markenzy Lapointe
- Occupations
- lawyer
- Biography
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Markenzy Lapointe is an American lawyer who has served as United States attorney for the Southern District of Florida since January 2023.
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Geraldine F. Thompson
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Geraldine Fortenberry Thompson is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who currently serves as a member of the Florida State Senate from the 15th district.
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Willy Gort
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Wilfredo Gort de los Llanos is a Cuban-American politician who served as the 37th and acting Mayor of Miami from June to July 1996. Gort was a City of Miami Commissioner from 1993 to 2001 and again from 2010 to 2020.
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Danilo Maldonado Machado
- Occupations
- muralisthuman rights activist
- Biography
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Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as El Sexto, born April 1, 1983, is a Cuban graffiti artist and human rights activist who has been arrested and imprisoned several times in Cuba. He was arrested in the United States in 2018 and charged with a felony, aggravated stalking, for repeatedly violating a restraining order filed by his ex-girlfriend Alexandra Martinez. He pled guilty in 2019 of aggravated stalking (which involves a credible threat to harm the victim) and was released from prison where he was held for one year without possibility of bail. He was also charged with threatening her with violence. He was set for deportation back to Cuba but was allowed to remain in the US as a result if the likelihood of persecution in Cuba. He is a convicted felon on two years of probation.
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Ariel Torres
- Occupations
- karateka
- Biography
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Ariel Torres Gutierrez is an American karateka. He won one of the bronze medals in the men's kata event at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. At the 2019 Pan American Games held in Lima, Peru, he won the silver medal in the men's kata event. He won gold at the 2023 Pan American Games held in Santiago, Chile.
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Bryan Avila
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Bryan Avila is an American Republican politician who currently serves as a member of the Florida Senate, representing the 39th District. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 111th District, which includes parts of Miami and Hialeah in northeastern Miami-Dade County, since 2014. Avila will be term limited in 2022 and has announced his intention to run for Miami Dade County commission district 6.
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Mirta Ojito
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Mirta Ojito is a Cuban-born author and journalist. She has written two nonfiction books, Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus a book about her journey to the U.S. as a teenager in the Mariel boatlift, and Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town." She was part of a group of New York Times reporters who shared the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting in 2001 for a series of articles about race in America. More recently, she was a member of the Telemundo team that won an Emmy for the coverage of Pope Francis's visit to the Americas.
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Madeline Pumariega
- Biography
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Madeline Pumeriega is the fifth president of Miami Dade College in Miami, Florida. She is the first female to hold the post.
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Paul G. Byron
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Paul Gregory Byron is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
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Alberto Gutman
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Alberto Gutman was a Cuban-American politician. Born to a Jewish family in Havana, Cuba, he moved to the United States when he was 6 years old.
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Nelson Santovenia
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Nelson Gil Santovenia Mayol is a Cuban former professional baseball player who played in the Major Leagues primarily as a catcher from 1987 to 1993. He played college baseball at the University of Miami. He is currently the hitting coach for the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
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Carol W. Hunstein
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Carol Wyckoff Hunstein is an American lawyer and judge from Georgia. She is a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. She served on the Court as an associate justice from 1992 to 2009 and 2013 to 2018 and as Chief Justice from 2009 to 2013.
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Willie Logan
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Willie Logan is an American politician from the U.S. state of Florida. A former member of the Florida House of Representatives, he campaigned for the United States Senate as an Independent in 2000.
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Rene Garcia
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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René García is a Republican politician from Florida. He has served on the Miami-Dade County Commission since 2020, representing the Hialeah area. He previously served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2000 to 2008 and in the Florida Senate from 2010 to 2018.
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Charles Chestnut IV
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Charles S. "Chuck" Chestnut IV is a Democratic politician who currently serves as an Alachua County Commissioner, representing the 5th District from 2012 to the present. Prior to being elected to the Alachua County Commission, Chestnut served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2006 to 2012, representing the 96th District.
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Luis Garcia
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Luis R. García, Jr. is a Democratic politician from Florida and the retired Fire Department Chief of Miami Beach. He served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing parts of Miami Beach, Miami, and Coral Gables from 2006 to 2012. Previously, he served for seven years on the Miami Beach City Commission.
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Chino Cadahia
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Aurelio "Chino" Cadahia is a Major League Baseball coach.
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Eduardo Gonzalez
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Eduardo González is a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 111th District, which includes parts of Miami and Hialeah in northeastern Miami-Dade County, since 2012, previously representing the 102nd District from 2006 to 2012.
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Dorothy Elliston Hindman
- Occupations
- composermusicianmusic educator
- Biography
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Dorothy Hindman is an American composer and music educator.
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Mitch Needelman
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Mitch Needelman is a former member of the Florida House of Representatives serving as a Republican. He represented the 31st district from 2000 to 2008.
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Dave Augustine
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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David Ralph Augustine is an American former outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates during the 1973 and 1974 baseball seasons. He was drafted by the Cleveland Indians out of Miami Dade College in the 33rd round of the 1968 MLB June Amateur Draft.
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Lawrence G. Abele
- Enrolled in Miami Dade College
- Graduated with associate degree
- Occupations
- biologist
- Biography
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Lawrence Gordon Abele is an American academic in the Department of Biological Science and the former Provost at Florida State University, where he is a distinguished professor, In 1994, he was appointed provost at Florida State, a position he held through 2010.
