We are pleased to announce that Ill:. Richard G. Hoover, 33° was unanimously elected and crowned as Sovereign Grand Inspector General in the Orient of Florida on Saturday, August 21, 2021 during the biennial session of the Supreme Council of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction.

Our new SGIG was born in Williamsport, PA, May 31, 1952.  He attended the public schools in the area and graduated from Williamsport High School in 1970.   After graduation, he worked in his father’s construction business for several years until moving to St. Petersburg, FL in 1977.  Ill:. Rick returned to Williamsport to marry his high school sweetheart, Robyn (Bobby) L. Allen, on December 17, 1983. Together they have two sons, Richard A. and J. Ryan.  Ill:. Hoover has a daughter, Tammie Hartland, from a previous marriage.   Rick and Bobby enjoy spending time with  their three  beautiful  granddaughters: Alexis, Marissa and Audrey Rose.

Since moving to Florida, our SGIG has been employed in the Pest Control industry.   He has worked with several  of the largest firms in the Nation in management with duties  including  technician training, customer relations and retention, and management.  In 1988, Ill:. Rick and Bobby incorporated All R’s Pest Management to give a type of service prospective customers look for, a company who-cares. This business has been successfully serving customers for over thirty years.

Ill:. Hoover received the Three Symbolic Degrees of Freemasonry in Nitram Lodge No. 188 in St. Petersburg, FL in 1994.  He served his Lodge as Worshipful Master in 1998 and as Secretary from 2004-2013.  He has served his District in various committee chairmanships from 1997 through 2008.

Our SGIG has served the Grand Lodge of Florida as District Deputy  Grand Master  of the (old) 21st Masonic District in 2003 and served as District Instructor in 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2013.  ln addition, he served  as  Grand  Standard  Bearer  in 2007,  five  years  as a  member  of  the Masonic  Jurisprudence Committee, the FA-100 committee,  Public  Education & Citizenship  Committee,  Public  Relations and Publicity Committee and the Masonic Leadership Training Committee.  In 2010 he was appointed Grand Representative of the Grand Lodge of Arizona near the Grand Lodge of Florida.

Ill: .Hoover  was elected Junior Grand  Warden of the Grand Lodge of Florida  in 2014, Senior Grand Warden  in 2015,  Deputy  Grand  Master  in 2016  and elected  Grand  Master  at the 188tb Annual  Grand Communication and then installed  Grand Master on his 65tb birthday, May 31, 2017.

Ill:. Hoover became a Master of the Royal Secret on May 6, 1995 in the Valley of Tampa.  He has been an active member of the Valley, having served as Master of Kadosh in 2008 along with serving as President of the Past Masters Organization.  He has served as the Valley of Tampa’s Trustee on the Scottish Rite Foundation of Florida’s Board of Trustees in 2012-2014. He was coroneted a Thirty-Third Scottish Rite Mason in November 2013.

Ill: Rick is a member of the St. Petersburg York Rite Bodies, Selama Grotto, Egypt Shriners, Bethlehem Chapter No.169, OES and a member of the Royal Order of Scotland, Maxwell Clan.

In his spare time, he enjoys golf, trap and skeet shooting, bowling and collecting Masonic paraphernalia and memorabilia.