Lou Ritter - Later Life

Later Life

Ritter never ran for political office again. He worked for the Office of Economic Opportunity as Director Sargent Shriver's executive assistant during President Lyndon Johnson's administration. After leaving Washington, D.C., Florida Governor Reubin Askew appointed him as secretary of the Florida Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation from 1971–1974. Subsequently, Ritter founded a lobbying firm in Tallahassee. Florida Funeral directors were his first client, but there have been many others, including golf professionals, the swimming pool industry and dry cleaners.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation staged an undercover sting operation in 1981 using a convicted felon who was trying to obtain a state liquor license. Several prominent Jacksonvillians were indicted, including Ritter, who was accused of accepting money illegally. Ritter was acquitted by a federal judge in 1982.

Ritter suffered a heart attack in 2000 and received quadruple bypass surgery which slowed his pace, but only slightly. Prior to his death, he was writing a book about politics in Jacksonville from 1930 through the 1960s. Louis Ritter died at his home in Palm Valley on April 9, 2010 after a battle with cancer. He was 84.