Politics / Law
Robert Ficano
born 1952 · lawyer, Wayne County sheriff, county executive
Detroit-born lawyer who served twenty years as Wayne County sheriff (1983–2003) and twelve as county executive (2003–2015), a tenure ending amid scandals and the unfinished Gratiot jail project.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 74- Birth name
- Robert Anthony Ficano
- Also known as
- Robert A. Ficano
- Detroit years
- 1952–
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Robert Ficano was born in Detroit in 1952 into an Italian American family with union roots; his father was a school custodian and union member in Livonia, and his grandfather worked in the auto plants. He graduated from Michigan State University and earned his law degree at the University of Detroit in 1977, then practiced in Westland and served as the city's assistant attorney. After a stint as deputy county clerk, he was appointed Wayne County sheriff in 1983 when William Lucas left to run for county executive, and he won re-election five times. In 2002 he was elected county executive himself, taking office in 2003 and serving three terms, with close ties to organized labor and the UAW. His later years were marked by federal investigations of aides, a controversial severance payout to a top official, a ballooning county deficit and the half-built Wayne County jail on Gratiot Avenue, abandoned in 2013 after cost overruns. He lost the 2014 primary to Warren Evans.
Highlights
- Wayne County executive, 2003–2015
- Wayne County sheriff, 1983–2003
- Law graduate of the University of Detroit (1977)
- Oversaw the troubled Gratiot Avenue jail project