Raymond Claiborne Osborne (September 7, 1933 – March 3, 2011), was a Florida Republican Party politician who served as the first

Lieutenant Governor of Florida The lieutenant governor of Florida is a statewide elected office in the government of the U.S. state of Florida. According to the Florida Constitution, the lieutenant governor is elected to a four-year term congruent with that of the governor of ...

under the state constitution of 1968. Osborne was the state's first lieutenant governor since 1889. Appointed by Republican Governor

Claude R. Kirk, Jr. Claude Roy Kirk Jr. (January 7, 1926 – September 28, 2011) was the 36th governor of the U.S. state of Florida (1967–1971). He was the first Republican governor of Florida since Reconstruction. Early life Kirk was born in San Bernardin ...

, Osborne was sworn in on January 7, 1969, for a term that lasted two years. Born in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in ...

, Osborne graduated from

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universi ...

in 1955. He then served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1955 to 1957. Osborne graduated from the

University of North Carolina School of Law The University of North Carolina School of Law is the law school of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Established in 1845, Carolina Law is among the oldest law schools in the United States and is the oldest law school in North Carol ...

in 1961. Osborne moved with his wife to

St. Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa. It is the ...

. From 1964 to 1968, Osborne served in the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopte ...

, and unsuccessfully ran for the Florida Public Service Commission in 1968. Osborne practiced law for many years in

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

, Florida, until his death in March 2011.

References

Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Lieutenant Governors of Florida 1933 births 2011 deaths People from Boca Raton, Florida People from St. Petersburg, Florida Politicians from Winston-Salem, North Carolina North Carolina State University alumni University of North Carolina School of Law alumni Florida lawyers North Carolina lawyers 20th-century American lawyers {{Florida-politician-stub