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George K. Rahdert 1950–2025

George K. Rahdert
Tampa Bay at first light from a quiet seawall

Founder. A Florida First Amendment defender.

“I just like being a lawyer,” he told a reporter in 2003.

George K. Rahdert, quoted in the Business Observer, 2003
  1. EducationDuke University
  2. J.D. 1975Yale Law School
  3. ClerkshipU.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
  4. Since the 1970sFounded the practice in St. Petersburg
  5. 1987 & 1989Argued and won before the U.S. Supreme Court
  6. DecadesCounsel to the St. Petersburg Times and the Poynter Institute
George K. Rahdert meeting with a client, 2018
George K. Rahdert at the conference table, 2018.

Two cases he argued before the Supreme Court changed the law, for disability rights and for the press.

School Board of Nassau County v. Arline

480 U.S. 273 (1987)

He represented teacher Gene Arline. The Court held, 7–2, that Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act protects people with contagious diseases, a landmark of disability-rights law.

The case at Oyez →

The Florida Star v. B.J.F.

491 U.S. 524 (1989)

He represented the newspaper. The Court ruled 6–3 that the press may publish truthful information it has lawfully obtained.

The case at Oyez →
George K. Rahdert in conversation at the conference table, 2018

Counsel to the St. Petersburg Times, now the Tampa Bay Times, and the Poynter Institute.

For decades he defended the newspaper and the institute in defamation, open-records and open-meetings matters, including the Times’ defense against an attempted takeover.

The defense of reporter Tim Roche.

Roche was jailed in the 1990s for refusing to reveal a confidential source. The case helped lead to Florida’s 1998 journalist shield law.

A downtown preservationist.

He restored the Alexander Building and other historic downtown properties, and was a founding supporter of the Palladium Theater.

Further reading

George K. Rahdert and Steve Mortimer at the conference table, 2018
George K. Rahdert and Steve Mortimer, 2018.

He died in St. Petersburg on December 8, 2025. His partners carry the practice forward from the building he restored.