Introduction to Harry LaRosiliere
Harry LaRosiliere lived in New York in the early 1990s when he got his calling in life. He told his now wife: “I’m going to be mayor some day.”
That was two decades before he was elected mayor of Plano.
“I chose the city in which I lived to be my world,” LaRosiliere said. “If I could make a difference in the lives of the citizens, then I’m making my world better.”
LaRosiliere, 63, served as Plano’s mayor from 2013 to 2021 before hitting the city’s term limit. LaRosiliere remembers awarding the city’s first key to the city, honoring several former Plano mayors.
LaRosiliere’s Journey to Becoming Mayor
LaRosiliere followed his wife to Plano in 1994 with a plan to head back east in a few years. But after having their first child in Plano, staying was a no-brainer. Three years turned into three decades.
“All the reasons to stay here are evident: good schools, safe city, quality of life, cost of living — all the reasons that I would tell people why they should come to Plano were there for us,” he said. “We never left.”
Former Plano mayor Harry LaRosiliere poses for a portrait Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Plano.
Christine Vo / Staff Photographer
Achievements as Mayor
LaRosiliere led the city through a number of economic development victories, including the “watershed moment” when Toyota Motor North America moved its headquarters from California to Plano in 2014. FedEx Office, Liberty Mutual, JPMorgan Chase and Boeing came to Plano soon after.
“We really put the city on as an economic powerhouse, not only in the region, but in the country,” LaRosiliere said. “We played on the national stage.”
The trend has continued. Major players like AT&T and the Dallas Stars are reportedly eyeing a move to Plano. But LaRosiliere is most proud not of his economic successes but of his work helping young people and feeding the hungry.
Former Plano Mayor Harry La Rosiliere, right, receives the key to the city from Plano Mayor John Muns on Thursday, October 9, 2025 at the municipal center in Plano, Texas.
City of Plano
Community Service and Initiatives
He started the Plano Peanut Butter Drive in 2014, which expanded across Collin County in 2019 and across 12 counties in 2021 through the North Texas Food Bank. He also formed a partnership with Paul Quinn College, a historically Black college in Dallas, to start its Urban Work College, which seeks to “poverty-proof” education and minimize student debt.
LaRosiliere created the Plano Mayor’s Summer Internship Program, which has served more than 1,000 high school students since 2014. The program places Plano teenagers in paid internships, partnering with businesses and nonprofits to give youth real-world experiences before college.
He said he’s especially proud the internship program has served first-generation college students. LaRosiliere himself was a first-generation college student who enrolled at City College of New York.
“I didn’t have the tutelage and the advice at home from my parents on how to prepare for a job interview and how to behave in an office environment because my parents had blue-collar jobs,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I opened that door for others.”
Personal Life and Legacy
LaRosiliere’s parents immigrated from Haiti to the United States in the 1960s for two reasons: education for their children and employment for themselves. LaRosiliere hopes now to be a “doorman” for young people to reach their full potential and succeed.
“I’m opening the door for you,” he tells young people. “What you do when you get into that room is on you.”
LaRosiliere was the city’s first Black mayor, but he didn’t want to
