Rick Dantzler

Rick Dantzler
A portrait photograph featuring the suited head and shoulders of a white man, facing and smiling at the camera.
Dantzler in 1992
Florida State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency
In office
January 13, 2014 – January 20, 2017
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byDebby Folsom
Member of the Florida Senate
from the 13th & 17th district
In office
1990 – January 6, 1998
Preceded byBob Crawford
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 43rd district
In office
1982–1990
Preceded byBob Crawford
Personal details
BornJanuary 1956 (age 68)
Fort Leonard Wood,
Missouri, United States
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Julie Pope
(m. 1984)
Children2
EducationB.A. (1978) & JD (1981)
University of Florida
OccupationLawyer
SalaryUS$155,000 (2018)
 (eq. $188,071 in 2023)

Rick Dantzler (born January 1956) is an American lawyer, former Florida politician, and a member of the Democratic Party. From Winter Haven, Dantzler served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 to 1990, and in the Florida Senate from 1990 to 1998. He was Buddy MacKay's running mate in the 1998 Florida gubernatorial election; they lost to Jeb Bush and Frank Brogan. From 2014 to 2017, Dantzler was President Obama's appointed Florida State Executive Director of the Farm Service Agency.

Born into a family of politicians, Dantzler is a lawyer and writer. With his wife Julie (née Pope), Dantzler has two adult daughters. A member of the Florida Bar since 1983, Dantzler was specializing in agricultural law at the Victor Smith Law Group law firm by May 2018. That July, Dantzler was hired as chief operating officer of the Lake Alfred, Florida-based Citrus Research and Development Foundation.