| Neil A. Butler | |
| Office: | Mayor of Gainesville |
| Term Start1: | 1974 |
| Term End1: | 1975 |
| Predecessor1: | James G. Richardson |
| Successor1: | Joseph W. Little |
| Term Start2: | 1971 |
| Term End2: | February 1972 |
| Predecessor2: | Perry McGriff |
| Successor2: | T.E. "Ted" Williams |
| Office3: | Member of the Gainesville City Commission |
| Term Start3: | 1972 |
| Term End3: | 1974 |
| Term Start4: | 1969 |
| Term End4: | 1971 |
| Birth Date: | 1927/1928 |
| Birth Place: | Orange Heights, Florida |
| Death Date: | June 14, 1992 (age 64) |
| Death Place: | Detroit, Michigan |
| Alma Mater: | Morris Brown College |
| Education: | B.A. and M.A. University of Florida |
Neil A. Butler (1927/1928 – June 14, 1992) was an American politician who served as mayor of Gainesville, Florida, the first African-American to hold the office since Reconstruction.
Butler was raised in then-segregated Orange Heights, Florida.[1] [2] He served in combat during World War II and after returning to the U.S., worked as a nurse[2] at Emory University Hospital while attending classes at Morris Brown College.[1] He then went on to earn and B.S. and M.S. in nursing at the University of Florida where he also served as a lecturer.[1] On March 19, 1969, he won election to the Gainesville City Commission,[2] a significant accomplishment as Gainesville was 80% White at the time.[3] In 1971, he was elected by the City Commission to serve as Gainesville's first African American mayor since Josiah T. Walls during Reconstruction.[1] [2] While mayor, he started a minority recruiting program to increase the number of Black firefighters and policemen; he paved most of the dirt roads in Black neighborhoods; formed a Bi-Racial Committee to help foster improved interracial relations;[2] and consolidated the various city utilities into a single entity.[4]
He resigned in February 1972, three weeks before the end of his term, after The Gainesville Sun broke a story that he had pled guilty to a $9 mail embezzlement charge in 1959 (receiving probation) when he lived in Atlanta[1] [2] and that he should not have run for office as his civil rights had not been restored.[4] He was replaced by former mayor T.E. "Ted" Williams who served the remaining 45 days of his term.[2] [5] Soon after, the Florida Bureau of Pardons reviewed his case and restored his civil rights.[1] Despite the prior conviction, the electorate returned him to the City Commission in March 1972[2] where he served during the administrations of Richard T. Jones (1972–1973) and James G. Richardson (1973–1974).[5] Butler was grateful that his constituents were able to see that he had been a capable mayor and did not focus on a mistake he had made years in the past stating: "I had heard that some people were worried about what would happen if a black man became mayor, but I proved to them that I wouldn’t ruin the city."[2] In 1974, he was once-again elected by the City Commission to be mayor serving until 1975 when he was succeeded by his fellow commissioner Joseph W. Little.[2]
Butler remained active in local politics as director of the Gainesville utility system[6] until the 1980s, when he moved to Newark, New Jersey to work at a Veterans Affairs nursing home and hospital; he eventually became the hospital's head psychiatric nurse.[2]
On June 14, 1992, Butler died of a heart attack while attending a wedding in Detroit.[1] [2] He was a brother in the Beta Pi Chapter of Omega Psi Phi.[7] He was a Methodist.[8]