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James, Ex-Hillsborough State Attorney, Recalled As Corruption Foe

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By DAVID SOMMER of The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 18, 2008

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Bill James

TAMPA - Former Hillsborough State Attorney Bill James, whose career as a crusader against corruption included the prosecution in federal court of three Hillsborough County commissioners, has died. He was 75.

James, who in 1995 retired to ski, hike and practice law in Colorado at age 62, died following complications from gall bladder surgery at the University of Colorado Hospital in Denver, longtime assistant and law partner Chris Hoyer confirmed this afternoon.

Born and raised in St. Louis, James first made news as an Olympic equestrian, riding a horse owned by Augustus Busch in the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland, another longtime partner, Judy Hoyer, recalled Tuesday.

After his graduation from law school at Washington University in St. Louis in 1957, James worked as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Missouri before joining the FBI, working out of New York City from 1961 to 1964.

In 1970, James became chief assistant U.S. attorney for the Tampa Division of the Middle District of Florida, a post he held until heading the federal organized crime strike force in Tampa from 1978-84.

The Republican then served two terms as Hillsborough County state attorney before being unseated by Democrat Harry Lee Coe III in 1992.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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