Rick Scott

Scott never met his biological father, Gordon William Myers, who was described by Scott's mother, Esther J. Scott (née Fry; 1928–2012), as an abusive alcoholic.

Scott's parents divorced in his infancy.

Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers; born December 1, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who has been the junior United States senator from Florida since 2019.

Rick Scott was born Richard Lynn Myers in Bloomington, Illinois, on December 1, 1952.

In 1954, Esther married Orba George Scott Jr. (died 2006), a truck driver.

Orba adopted Rick, who took his stepfather's surname and became known as Richard Lynn Scott.

Scott was raised in North Kansas City, Missouri, the second of five children.

His family was lower-middle-class and struggled financially; Esther Scott worked as a clerk at J. C. Penney, among other jobs.

Scott graduated from North Kansas City High School in 1970.

He attended community college and enlisted in the United States Navy in 1970.

Scott was in the Navy for 29 months and served on the USS Glover (FF-1098) as a radarman.

Scott attended college on the G.I. Bill, and graduated from the University of Missouri–Kansas City with a Bachelor of Science in business administration.

He earned a juris doctor degree by working his way through Southern Methodist University.

He was licensed by the Texas Bar to practice law on November 6, 1978.

Scott made his first foray into business while working his way through college and law school, initially buying and reviving a failing doughnut shop (the Flavor Maid Do-Nut) by adding workplace delivery instead of relying on foot traffic.

He later bought and revived another doughnut shop.

After graduating from law school, Scott worked as an attorney at the law firm of Johnson & Swanson in Dallas, Texas.

In 1987, after serving in the United States Navy and becoming a law firm partner, he co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation.

Columbia later merged with another corporation to form Columbia/HCA, which eventually became the nation's largest for-profit health care company.

In 1988, Scott and Richard Rainwater, a financier from Fort Worth, each put up $125,000 in working capital in their new company, Columbia Hospital Corporation; they borrowed the remaining money needed to purchase two struggling hospitals in El Paso for $60 million.

Then they acquired a neighboring hospital and shut it down.

Within a year, the remaining two were doing much better.

By the end of 1989, Columbia Hospital Corporation owned four hospitals with a total of 833 beds.

In 1992, Columbia made a stock purchase of Basic American Medical, which owned eight hospitals, primarily in southwestern Florida.

Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997.

During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs.

The Department of Justice won 14 felony convictions against the company, which was fined $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest healthcare fraud settlement in U.S. history.

Following his departure from Columbia/HCA, Scott became a venture capitalist and pursued other business interests.

In 2009, he founded Conservatives for Patients' Rights.

Scott ran for governor of Florida in 2010.

He defeated Bill McCollum in a vigorously contested Republican primary election, and then narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Alex Sink in the general election.

A member of the Republican Party, he was the 45th governor of Florida from 2011 to 2019.

Scott is a graduate of the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Dedman School of Law at Southern Methodist University.

Scott was reelected in 2014, defeating former governor Charlie Crist.

He was barred by term limits from running for reelection in 2018, and instead ran for the United States Senate.

Scott won the 2018 US Senate election, defeating Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

The initial election results were so close that they triggered a mandatory recount.

The recount showed that Scott had won by 10,033 votes; Nelson then conceded the race.

Scott took office following the expiration of his term as governor of Florida on January 8, 2019.

He is running for reelection in 2024.