Robert A. "Bob" Holmes is an American politician and Georgia legislator. Holmes earned a B.S. in political science at Shepherd College in 1964, an M.A. in public law and government at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in political science at Columbia University at the age of 25.
Until his retirement in 2005, he was Director of the Southern Center for Studies in Public Policy and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Clark Atlanta University. Holmes has authored, co-authored, or edited 25 books/monographs and has published more than 60 articles, chapters, and reviews in journals and books throughout the world and serves as the editor of two annual publications, Georgia Legislative Review and The Status of Black Atlanta. He has served on the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Phylon, and The Review of Black Political Economy. He is active in numerous professional associations and has served as a chair, panelist, local arrangements chair, and paper presenter at more than 150 conferences.[1]
Holmes has served as a State Representative in the Georgia General Assembly, since 1974. In 2006, Holmes was re-elected as a Democrat to his seventeenth term, repreenting the 53rd House district (Parts of Clayton, Fayette, and Fulton Counties). He is a committee member of Appropriations and Rules and serves as Chairman of Education. He was the first African-American in the history of the General Assembly to serve on the Budget Subcommittee. He served as chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus in 1990-91. He has successfully sponsored or co-sponsored more than 200 laws that have been passed in the Georgia General Assembly.[1]
Holmes serves on the Board of Directors of the Capital City Bank and Trust, the JOMANDI Theater Company, the Sickel Cell Foundation, the Road Runners Club of America and the Metro-Atlanta YMCA.
Part of Interstate 285 was named in his honor, from Interstate 85 in South Fulton County to Interstate 20. In 2001 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sheperd College.[1]
