Joseph Anthony Adame (born October 20, 1945) is an American politician and real estate broker who was the first elected Hispanic mayor of

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi ( ; ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, Texas, Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas County, T ...

, serving from May 2009 to November 2012.

Early life and education

Adame was born in Corpus Christi. He graduated from Corpus Christi Academy in 1963, then attended Del Mar College in 1964. Adame graduated from

Sam Houston State University Sam Houston State University (Sam Houston, SHSU or Sam) is a public research university in Huntsville, Texas, United States. Founded in 1879, it is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools wes ...

in 1968 with a degree in business.

Career

After college, Adame became a real estate broker and, in 1974, he founded Joe Adame & Associates, a commercial real estate firm. In 1997, Adame was appointed by the governor to the Texas Real Estate Center Advisory Committee, serving as chairman from 1997 to 2006. Adame also served as chairman of the Corpus Christi Regional Development Corporation from 1999 to 2002.

Mayor

Adame ran for mayor of Corpus Christi in 2009 "after he became frustrated with years of sluggish city growth." He received 65.58% of the vote and defeated the incumbent mayor Henry Garrett in the first defeat of an incumbent Corpus Christi mayor in 50 years. Adame won re-election to a second term in 2011, receiving 71.88% of the vote. Early in his second term, he decided not to run a third time in order to spend more time with his family. Adame's tenure as mayor was noted for several accomplishments including: an ordinance allowing residential wind turbines, demolition of the Memorial Coliseum, a stream-lined recycling program, hiring of a new city manager to balance the city budget, and approval of a $117 million tax-incentive to build a water park on

Padre Island Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and the world's longest barrier island. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in Spanish, ...

Honors

Adame received the William Jennings Lonestar Trophy for the 1995 outstanding commercial transaction in Texas. In 2008, he was inducted into the Corpus Christi Business Hall of Fame. In 2012, Adame received the Knight of the Honorable Order of St. Michael special award from the United States Army for his support of Corpus Christi Army Depot. In 2014, Adame was named the G. Russell Kirkland Distinguished Visiting Executive by

Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, TAMU–CC, A&M–Corpus Christi, or A&M–CC) is a Public university, public research university on Ward Island (Texas), Ward Island in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It i ...

Personal life

Adame married Kathy Ana Scogin in 1971. They have three children.

References

External links

Joe Adame & Associates
Mayors of Corpus Christi, Texas Living people 1945 births {{Texas-mayor-stub