Richard Vinroot papers

Richard Vinroot was born in Charlotte on April 14, 1941. He attended Mecklenburg County public schools, and in high school he served as president of the student body and as captain of the football and basketball teams. He was an Eagle Scout who later served as a scout master for an inner-city troop. Vinroot was awarded a Morehead Scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he served as class president and played varsity basketball under Coach Dean Smith. He graduated in 1963 with a degree in business administration and remained at Chapel Hill, where he earned a law degree in 1966. While in law school, Vinroot married Judy Allen, who graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 1965 with a degree in education. In 1966 he declined a military service deferment and served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam, where he was awarded a Bronze Star. When he returned from Vietnam, Vinroot joined the law firm of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, specializing in corporate litigation. He served on the Charlotte City Council from 1983 to 1991, was elected mayor of Charlotte in 1991, and was re-elected in 1993. As mayor of Charlotte, Vinroot enforced the Taxpayer Protection Act, which limited the growth of the city's budget to the annual percentage increase in population and the rate of inflation. The city set spending limits, establishing spending priorities, and 28 municipal departments were reorganized. Several municipal services were privatized, including sidewalk construction, tree-trimming, and residential garbage collection in parts of the city. The city hired 200 new police officers and established North Carolina's first "drug court" to facilitate the prosecution of drug criminals. In 1995, he was named "Municipal Leader of the Year" by American City and County magazine. In 1999, Vinroot helped establish the Sugar Creek Charter School, a rehabilitated retail store in one of Charlotte's poorer neighborhoods. The school served 500 students, mostly African-American, whose parents were unhappy with the public school system. Richard Vinroot is an elder at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, where he has been a senior high Sunday school teacher since 1969. His wife, Judy Vinroot, teaches adult literacy at Central Piedmont Community College.