I.The Developer
Mel Sembler was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, studied at Northwestern University, and made his fortune building shopping centers. He chaired The Sembler Company, a Florida developer of retail centers. He married Betty Schlesinger in 1953, and they had three children.
Born
St. Joseph, Missouri
Studied at
Northwestern University
Business
The Sembler Company, a Florida developer of retail centers
Married
Betty Schlesinger, 1953
He had no training in medicine, psychology or addiction treatment.
II.The Founder
On April 22, 1976, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Mel and Betty Sembler co-founded Straight, Inc. with Joseph Zappala. Straight was a drug-treatment program for teenagers that would spread to centers in several states, including Springfield, Virginia (1982–1991).
The Semblers became Straight’s public face and its most powerful advocates. In January 1982, Mel Sembler forwarded the Malcolm report’s endorsement letter to Carlton Turner, the White House drug-policy adviser, as Straight looked for national backing and money to expand.
III.The Ambassador
The political doors that opened for Straight stayed open for its founder.
1989–1993
U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Nauru, appointed by President George H. W. Bush, who as Vice President had publicly praised Straight.
2001–2005
U.S. Ambassador to Italy, appointed by President George W. Bush.
Politics
He was a major Republican fundraiser, chaired the Scooter Libby Legal Defense Trust, and co-chaired Mitt Romney’s Florida finance committee.
1976
Straight, Inc.
Mel and Betty Sembler co-found Straight, Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida with Joseph Zappala.
January 1982
Straight, Inc.
Sembler forwards the Malcolm report’s endorsement letter to Carlton Turner, the White House drug-policy adviser.
April 1982
Straight, Inc.
Straight opens its Springfield, Virginia center.
1989–1993
The diplomatic career
U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Nauru, appointed by President George H. W. Bush.
1993
Straight, Inc.
Straight, Inc. closes its last centers, the year his Australian posting ends.
2001–2005
The diplomatic career
U.S. Ambassador to Italy, appointed by President George W. Bush.
Straight, Inc. closed its last centers in 1993, the year his Australian posting ended.
IV.What Straight Became
The organization didn’t disappear. It changed its name.
1985
Straight, Inc. becomes The Straight Foundation, Inc.
1995
it is renamed the Drug Free America Foundation, which focuses on anti-drug policy rather than treatment.
1998
Betty Sembler founds its lobbying arm, Save Our Society From Drugs (S.O.S.).
V.Two Legacies
Mel Sembler died in St. Petersburg on October 31, 2023, at 93.
The obituaries
His obituaries remembered a developer, a diplomat and a philanthropist.
The survivors
Survivors remember something else: the program he founded, the rooms it ran, and the decades it took them to recover.
Ambassador. Developer. Founder. To thousands of teenagers, he was the name behind Straight.
Sources
- Wikipedia, “Mel Sembler”
- Wikipedia, “Drug Free America Foundation”
- St. Pete Catalyst, “Community mourns Mel Sembler”
- The Real Deal, Nov. 2023, “Real estate developer Mel Sembler dead at 93”
- Marcus Chatfield, Points (2023)
My Story
