Joseph D. Scholtz

Infobox Person
name = Joseph Denunzio Scholtz


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birth_date = January 16 1890
birth_place = Louisville, Kentucky
death_date = September 25 1972
death_place = Louisville, Kentucky
death_cause =
employer =
occupation = Fruit and produce wholesaler
title = Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky
predecessor = Neville Miller
successor = Wilson W. Wyatt
party = Democrat

Joseph D. Scholtz was Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1937 to 1941. He graduated from duPont Manual High School, then Cornell University in 1912. After college he worked in his family's fruit and produce company, the "Joseph Denunzio Fruit Company", eventually becoming vice president. He served in World War I and was stationed at Camp Taylor in Louisville.

Scholtz was appointed president of Lousville's Board of Parks in 1933 and was the only Democrat to serve in Republican Mayor William B. Harrison's administration. He became president of the Louisville Water Company in 1935.

He was elected mayor in 1937. During his term a business license tax was enacted and the planning of Standiford Field began, as did the switchover from streetcars to buses in the city. he convinced the Board of Education to increase pay for black teachers in the city's school system.

He left office a week before the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. After directing civil defense in a nine-state area in 1942, he joined the army as a Major in 1943 and was sent to North Africa then Italy, where he was a commissioner for the Military Government. For his services he received the Legion of Merit, the highest non-combat medal awarded.

After the war he served as postmaster of Louisville from 1947 to 1960. He died in 1972 and was buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.

References

*cite encyclopedia|title=Scholtz, Joseph D.|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Louisville|year=2001
*cite book|title=Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County|last=Yater|first=George H.|year=1987|publisher=Filson Club, Incorporated|location=Louisville, KY|edition=2nd edition|id = ISBN 0-9601072-3-1