Mayor of Tampa 1956-1959, 1963-1967

Nick Chillura Nuccio (Oct. 24, 1901 - Aug. 26, 1989) was a two-time mayor of Tampa, Florida

Tampa, Florida

Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

 in the 1950s and 60s. He was the Tampa's first mayor of "Latin" (specifically Italian) decent, having been born and raised in the immigrant neighborhood of Ybor City

Ybor City, Tampa, Florida

Ybor City is a historic neighborhood in Tampa, Florida located just northeast of downtown. It was founded in the 1880s by cigar manufacturers and was populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly from Spain, Cuba, and Italy...

.

Early life and career

Nick Nuccio was the son of Sicilian

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

 immigrants who were among the first to populate Ybor City

History of Ybor City

Ybor City is a historic neighborhood in Tampa, Florida, located just northeast of downtown. It was founded as an independent town in 1885 by a group of cigar manufacturers led by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and was annexed by Tampa in 1887...

. As was common in those days, he left school after 10th grade to help support his family, taking a job in the Tampa shipyards

Port of Tampa

The Port of Tampa is located on the western coast or Suncoast of Florida, approximately 25 miles from open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The boundaries of the Port district includes parts of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay and the Hillsborough River.The port of Tampa is the...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. After the war, Nuccio dabbled in real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

 and insurance

Insurance

In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...

, then became a clerk in the Ybor City post office

Post office

A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...

.

In 1929, Nuccio was helped by the many connections he had made when successfully running for the Tampa City Council

Tampa City Council

The Tampa City Council is the legislative body of the municipal government of the U.S. city of Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida. The City Council consists of seven members, each representing one of seven corresponding districts from which they were elected...

 as a representative from Ybor City. He was reelected several times before moving on to the Hillsborough County Commission in 1937, a post he held continuously until 1956.

While on the county commission, Nuccio found a novel method of increasing his local name recognition. A strong proponent of neighborhood improvements, Nuccio managed to get the words "Nick C. Nuccio, County Commissioner" stamped on every public works project he had approved. For several subsequent decades, his name was visible on sidewalks, park benches, seawalls, and virtually every other piece of concrete laid by Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County, Florida

As of the census of 2000, there were 998,948 people, 391,357 households, and 255,164 families residing in the county. The population density was 951 people per square mile . There were 425,962 housing units at an average density of 405 per square mile...

 during his long tenure.

Mayor

Nuccio used his formidable people skills and wide name recognition to successfully run for mayor of Tampa in 1956. He lost his reelection bid in 1959, in large part due to the physical disintegration of his power base of Ybor City. He kept in the public eye, however, and regained the mayorship in 1963.

While leading Tampa, Nuccio continued his efforts to build many public works, both to improve the quality of life in the city and to keep his neighborhood constituents happy. Nuccio successfully pushed for the construction of many libraries, bridges, fire and police stations, public pools, and parks (most notably Lowry Park Zoo

Lowry Park Zoo

Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo is a nonprofit zoo located in Tampa, Florida. In 2004, Lowry Park Zoo was voted the #1 Family Friendly Zoo in the US by Child Magazine, and is recognized by the State of Florida as the center for Florida wildlife conservation and biodiversity .Tampa's Lowry Park Zoological...

), among other projects, many of which are still in use today.

Mayor Nuccio made it a point to be very available to his constituents. Every morning, he ate an early breakfast of toasted Cuban bread

Cuban bread

Cuban bread is a fairly simple white bread, similar to French bread and Italian bread, but has a slightly different baking method and ingredient list ; it is usually made in long, baguette-like loaves...

 and Café con leche

Café con leche

Café con leche is a Spanish coffee beverage. More similar to the Italian caffe latte than to the French café au lait, café con leche is a coffee beverage consisting of strong or bold coffee mixed with scalded milk in approximately a 1:1 ratio...

 in a cafe in West Tampa

West Tampa, Florida

West Tampa is one of the oldest districts within the city limits of Tampa, USA, and a former incorporated city located west of the Hillsborough River and downtown Tampa. As of the 2000 census, the district had a population of 22,008...

, then moved on to a cafe in Ybor City. Those were his office hours, and he was happy to talk - in English, Spanish, or Italian - to anyone who wished to talk. Sometimes, the conversations would continue into lunch, which was usually back at Nuccio's own home. On most days, Nuccio would not arrive at his city hall office until early in the afternoon.

Despite his still-immense popularity among Tampa's Latin voters, the times had changed by the late 1960s. Nuccio's old-fashioned political skills were not as effective in a mass-media campaign, and he lost his 1967 reelection bid to the much younger and more media-savvy Dick Greco, Jr.

Dick A. Greco

Dick A. Greco is a politician, businessman, and civic activist from Tampa, Florida.-Early life:Dick Greco was born in the Ybor City neighborhood of Tampa, where his Italian-American father owned a hardware store. He graduated from Hillsborough High School and the University of Tampa where he...

, another native of Ybor City whom Nuccio had regarded as a political protege. In 1971, Nuccio again ran against Greco for the mayor's office but was again defeated.

Despite these losses, Nuccio was well respected among Tampa's Latin community until his death in 1989.