Maria Sachs

Maria Sachs
Maria Sachs
Member of the Florida House of Representatives; from the 86 district
	In office; 2007-
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Peter
Children	Natasha, Marcello, Taylor
Profession	Attorney

Maria Sachs is a Delray Beach, Florida attorney and Democratic politician who serves as the representative for District 86 of the Florida House of Representatives. She was first elected to the Florida House in 2006 and was re-elected in 2008. She had campaigned on making improvements to the juvenile justice system and employment equality for women.^[1]. She is currently running for State Senate in District 30.

Early Life

A native of Battle Creek, Michigan, Maria Sachs is the daughter of Anna Lonigro and the late Russell Lorts, who earned two Purple Hearts during World War II. Her parents met when Russell, a commissioned officer, was part of the Allied operations that liberated southern Italy in 1945. He met his wife, Anna, while marching through Naples to the Allied headquarters. The two of them returned, married, to Russell's dairy farm in Michigan.

Maria's childhood was spent in several states, as her father's position in the military meant frequent travel. She spent her youth in Michigan, Indiana and California. When she was 18, her father brought his family to Southeast Asia. She volunteered at the Malaria Control Center in upcountry Thailand while her father served in Vietnam. She also worked as a nurse’s assistant at the Air Force military hospital.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Maryland, from which she graduated cum laude. She later became a lecturer of International Politics for the University of Maryland at military bases throughout Western Europe and North Africa. Maria returned to the States to pursue a law degree at the University of Miami.

Career and Community

She began her law career under Janet Reno’s direction, and in 1985 moved to Palm Beach county where she set up a succesful private practice.

Maria is the founder and president of a professional women’s organization, the Women for Excellence (WE). The WE has over 150 members and continues to meet monthly. She was also the past president of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers, Broward Chapter, and is a member of the Women’s Chamber of Commerce, the Executive Women’s Organization, and the National Organization for Women.

Veterans and Nursing Homes

For the last seven years of his life, Maria's father, Russell, was a resident at the Extended Care Facility of the Veterans Administration Medical Center in West Palm Beach. She was profoundly dismayed by what she viewed as the lack of adequate treatment for veterans. Her first bill as a State Representative endows certain benefits to veterans in honor of their service. A second bill relating to Veterans Rights, SB1824/HB1455, passed in the spring of 2010. This bill makes it a crime to impersonate a veteran or member of the military.

Family

She has been married to Peter Sachs from Berlin for over 25 years. Peter, born in a camp for Jewish refugees in Germany, was raised in New York and moved to South Florida in 1974.

Maria is the mother of three children: Natasha, Marcello and Taylor. ^[1]

Sources

References

^ ^a ^b Palm Beach Post Bio

This article about a Florida politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[pbp_bio-1] Palm Beach Post Bio

[1]