Dewey W. Knight Jr.

His memory was honored on February 23, 1996, with the dedication of the Dewey W. Knight Jr. Family Medical Center. This walk-in minor emergency care center opened by North Shore Hospital serves the community.

As the voice of reason during times of social and political unrest, Dewey Knight pivotal role in quelling the Miami riots of 1980.

While serving as assistant county manager, organized the Department of Human Resources and began the process for what would become the Elderly Services Program. He served as acting County Manager in 1976, 1987, and 1988 and was promoted to First Deputy County Manager in 1985. He served more than 1.8 million residents of Dade County. He was and remains the only black person to ever hold this position. Knight, who retired in 1988, began his 29-year service in Dade County government as a social worker for the welfare agency. He quickly moved up to management positions and became the county's first black deputy county manager and assistant county manager.

In 1970, Knight accepted the role of Acting Director of Housing and Urban Development. In the same year, he was appointed Assistant County Manager—the first black person to command this post.

In 1969, he took on the interim role of head of the Division of Youth Services. He was heavily involved in the new War on Poverty program established by the federal government and also took on the challenge of working with the Neighborhood Development Program.

Dewey Knight Jr. was born and raised in Daytona Beach, where he also spent most of his childhood. from an early age, he was determined early on to make a difference in the world and long before the Civil Rights marches of the 1960s, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Bethune-Cookman College in 1951. Knight as a Daytona Beach native who earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Bethune-Cookman College in 1951.

He began his career in social work in a professional setting at the Kendall Children's Home in Miami, Florida in 1959. He was a caseworker who cared for the welfare of children and families throughout that community. He was noted for helping the voiceless, commitment for charity in his region, honesty and integrity. To honor his efforts, a "Dewey W. Knight, Jr./Ann-Marie Adker Fair Housing Center" was established in his honor.

Knight married Clara Louise Brown and moved to her original birthplace of Miami in 1959. He and Clara had two sons, Dewey III and Patrick. Despite his social and professional successes, he continued to live in the same community, surrounded by the people that he not only served, but also considered friends and family, for the entirety of his life. Knight moved to Miami, birthplace of his wife, Clara Louise Brown, in 1959. His first job was at the Kendall Children's Home. A dynamic employee who was deeply concerned with children and families, he quickly rose from his first position as a caseworker to become the first black social worker for that agency. Knight also Joined the ( Alpha Rho Boule) Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity .

While at college, Knight joined Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity He then served a four-year tour in the United States Air Force and then returned to complete his master's degree in social work from Atlanta University, which he finished in 1957. Knight as a Daytona Beach native who earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration from Bethune-Cookman College in 1951. After a four-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force, he returned to school and earned a master's degree in social work from Atlanta University in 1957.

Dewey Willard Knight Jr. (April 7, 1929 – June 21, 1995) was the first black social worker for Kendall Children's Home in Miami, Dewey W. Knight Jr. was considered a pioneer for his work in the early 1960s. Dewey continued his work throughout the 1960s and became the first black department director and the only black Deputy County Manager in Miami-Dade County administration's history.