Dan Gelber, a native Floridian, grew up in Miami and in Tallahassee. He attended Tufts University and the University of Florida College of Law as a Truman Scholar.
Dan was appointed one of the nation’s youngest federal prosecutors when he joined the South Florida U.S. Attorney’s Office. For nearly a decade, Dan handled some of Florida’s most significant public corruption, civil rights and narcotics prosecutions. He rose to be head of the civil rights division ultimately becoming a top deputy where he managed hundreds of prosecutors and thousands of investigations.
Dan was noticed by then U.S. Senator Sam Nunn who asked him to take the helm of the United State Senate’s investigations committee as its Chief Counsel and Staff Director. Dan led delegations around the world and throughout the former Soviet Union where he investigated terrorism and worked on ways to stop dangerous weapons and weapons technology from being smuggled to terrorist groups and rogue nations in the Middle East. He also led investigations and hearings, published reports and testified before the congress on a wide array of domestic security issues.
In 2000, Dan was elected to the Florida House and ultimately unanimously selected by his Democratic colleagues as their Leader. In 2008, he was elected to the state Senate, and in 2010 he was his party’s nominee for Attorney General of Florida.
Dan is considered one of the true “thought leaders” in Florida and his viewpoints are widely quoted in the media.
Dan is an accomplished attorney, practicing in Miami, and has the highest rating (AV) from the Martindale Hubbell rating service and has been recognized in various peer–review publications including Best lawyers in America and Florida’s Legal Elite.
Dan has been a Big Brother volunteer with the Big Brothers, Big Sister program for 25 years, including 25 with his little brother Travis. He has also spent nearly every summer at a camp he helped create 25 years ago for children afflicted with cancer. Dan lives with his wife, Joan, a career federal prosecutor, and their three children, Sophie, Hannah and Max in Miami Beach.
