Lieutenant Governor Jerry Abramson is the longest-serving mayor in the city of Louisville’s 232-year history, having won election to five terms, two of them over a merged city and county government.
Throughout 21 years as mayor, Abramson oversaw a dramatic transformation of Louisville. He helped maintain and enhance Louisville’s economy during the nation’s recent economic crisis by bringing the KFC Yum! Center to the city’s waterfront and supporting the expansion of major employers such as UPS, Ford and GE. At the same, Abramson supported local small business and accelerated the community’s downtown revitalization with the addition of 4th Street Live, the Frazier International History Museum and the Muhammad Ali Center.
Abramson was known for creating public/private partnerships to further policy goals, including one that brought together the business, government and civic sectors for the Greater Louisville Education Commitment, a widely successful effort to increase college graduation rates.
He also brought together diverse partners to re-invent Louisville as a “City of Parks” and to develop a nationally recognized public housing model. In 2008, the U.S. Conference of Mayors acknowledged Abramson’s impact when it named Louisville “America’s Most Livable Large City.”
As lieutenant governor, Abramson will bring the knowledge, enthusiastic ideas and local government experience he exhibited in Louisville to serve the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky. Over the last several months, he has spent countless hours in Kentucky’s big cities, small towns and homegrown communities, meeting local officials and families and learning what is important to them. Despite the diversity of Kentucky communities, Abramson believes all Kentuckians are united by a strong sense of values, a strong work ethic and belief in the significance of quality education.
Abramson received a B.S. in Business Economics from Indiana University and a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He served in the U.S. Army from 1969-1971, and then went on to hold two terms on Louisville’s Board of Aldermen. In addition to privately practicing law, he served in state government as General Counsel to Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown, Jr.
He and his wife, Madeline, have a son, Sidney.