Mayor Lois Frankel has been immersed in the fabric of West Palm Beach’s local community since 1974.

As a young lawyer, Ms. Frankel was a founder of West Palm Beach’s first domestic assault shelter now known as Harmony House. She also helped to establish and later became president of the Palm Beach County Association of Women Lawyers.

She has served as an active member of the Palm Beach County American Cancer Society and Actors Workshop and Repertory Company.

In 1986, Ms. Frankel was elected to the Florida House of Representatives where she served for fourteen years, rising to the position of Minority Leader, the first Democratic woman so designated in Florida's history.

While in the legislature, then Representative Frankel earned a reputation for being an energetic champion of Florida's children, seniors, and working families. She led efforts to reduce family violence and tackle the tobacco industry's targeting of minors. She spear headed legislation creating a memory disorder clinic at St. Mary's Hospital.

Ms. Frankel was elected strong Mayor of West Palm Beach in March of 2003 where she serves as the chief executive officer of Palm Beach County’s largest and busiest city.

On a personal note, Lois Frankel was born in New York. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Boston University and earned a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. She moved to West Palm Beach in 1974 where she began her law practice and family. The Mayor currently serves as a mentor to sixteen-year-old Camelia through the Take Stock in Children Program. She is an avid painter in her leisure time.

The Mayor is the mother of son Benjamin, a reserve Captain in the United States Marines.