Mike Pate

J. Michael “Mike” Pate currently serves as chair of the FSU Emeriti Alumni Society. He has been actively involved with FSU since his 1968 graduation from the FSU College of Business. He was one of the co-founders of the FSU Marching Chiefs Alumni. He was named to the Marching Chiefs Alumni Hall of Fame, is a member of the Circle of Gold, a Grad Made Good and in the College of Business Hall of Fame. He was a member of the FSU Foundation Board of Trustees, the Marching Chiefs Alumni board, the College of Business Legacy Hall building committee and helped former FSU president Sandy D’Alemberte start the FSU’s Opening Nights Arts Festival. Pate is a Legacy Life Member of the Alumni Association, a Seminole Booster and a member of the Bowden Society.

Pate was president and publisher of the Tallahassee Democrat for nine years and earlier for the Myrtle Beach (South Carolina) Sun News for 18 years. He also held management positions with the Biloxi (Mississippi) Sun Herald and The Miami Herald. Pate spent 37 years working in the newspaper business from which he retired.

After retiring, Pate led a community-building program in Tallahassee called the Knight Creative Communities Institute. The focus of the institute has been to make Tallahassee an even better place to live, work and play.

Pate is married to Judy Baker Pate, who is also an FSU graduate and a member of the Circle of Gold. Together they established, through a charitable remainder trust, the Pate Family Scholarship. The scholarship will support two scholarships annually for members of the Marching Chiefs, one for a business major and one for a music education major. The couple has one son, Brian, daughter-in-law Kirke and four grandchildren.