Great Floridians

Great Floridian is a title bestowed upon citizens in the state of Florida by the Florida Department of State. There were actually two formal programs. Whereas the Great Floridian 2000 program honored deceased individuals who made “significant contributions in the history and culture" of Florida (many times within a local community), the new program is more restrictive, selecting those persons, dead or alive, who made “major contributions to the progress and welfare" of Florida.

Great Floridians 2000

The Florida Department of State and the Florida League of Cities created the program in 1998; it ran through 2000. The process bestowed commemorative blue plaques in Florida to honor deceased individuals who significantly contributed to Florida, similar to the blue plaques that are found in the United Kingdom. A total of 385 persons were so honored. The historians on the Great Floridians 2000 Committee either approved or rejected applications, which included a section for specifying an appropriate historical property where the marker would be mounted.