County Executive Leopold's Biography

County Executive John Robinson Leopold became the seventh Anne Arundel County Executive on December 4, 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Leopold was the first Republican elected to the House of Delegates from District 31 and served for 20 years.

Mr. Leopold was born February 4, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before moving to Maryland, County Executive Leopold was a long-time resident of Hawaii. He served in the Hawaii State House of Representatives from 1970 to 1974 and the Hawaii State Senate from 1974 to 1978.

Other work experience includes: Member, Hawaii State Board of Education, 1968-70 (only Republican ever elected to Hawaii State Board of Education); Member, National Advisory Council for the Education of Disadvantaged Children (ESEA, Title I), 1977-79, appointed by President Gerald R. Ford; Member, Accountability Task Force (on State Aid to Public Education), 1984-89; National Motor Carrier Advisory Committee, 1988-90; National Council on Disability, 1991-92, appointed by President George Bush; Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, 1996-2004; Task Force on Public Charter Schools, 1998; State Council on Cancer Control, 2003-06.

In 2000, the National Republican Legislators Association named Mr. Leopold Legislator of the Year. Mr. Leopold also holds the distinction of being the only elected official in the United States to be elected into office in Hawaii and Maryland, after living in each state only one year.

An artist in his own right, Mr. Leopold’s oil paintings have appeared at various Art shows in New York City, NY and Philadelphia, PA.  Mr. Leopold expressed amusement when he remembered the day he sold one of his paintings to a clothing storeowner in Iowa City for a three-piece suit back in the mid-60s.

Before graduating from Hamilton College in 1964, Mr. Leopold played baseball and soccer at the college, and later taught English and coached soccer at a private school in Honolulu, HI.

County Executive Leopold enjoys his pet cat, Francois Rabelais, who is named after a satirist who “irked” the establishment back in the 16^th century. By the way, both Francois Rabelais (the man) and Mr. Leopold were born on February 4^th.