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Virgin Islands
Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly
- January 5, 1987 - January 2, 1995
- Democratic
- December 29, 1923
- September 10, 2002
- Virgin Islands
- St. John's College, Yale Law School
- Three children
- Army
About
ALEXANDER A. FARRELLY was born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. He entered the U.S. Army where he served with distinction and attained the rank of sergeant before his honorable discharge in 1946. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and government in 1951 and his Bachelor of Law degree in 1954 from St. John’s College in New York. He would later obtain a master’s degree in law from Yale University in 1958. In 1959 he was appointed to the professional staff of the United Nations by the secretary-general of the United Nations as a Caribbean area specialist. He was appointed assistant U.S. attorney for the District of the Virgin Islands in 1962. In 1965 he became a judge for the municipal court of the Virgin Islands. In 1966 he was elected as a senator-at-large to the 7th Legislature of the Virgin Islands. He was elected as the territory’s fourth elected governor in 1986 and he was reelected in 1990. As governor, Farrelly had a record of good labor relations, social service reform, capital and infrastructure improvements and modernization of the Islands’ ports and harbors. Many of the improvements were made possible by federal assistance that followed the devastation from Hurricane Hugo in 1989. Governor Farrelly passed away on September 10, 2002, after a lengthy illness.