Ellen Ruth Gorman-Martinez

Ellen R. Gorman, Esq., an advocate for immigrants for more than three decades, died April 23, 2025. Traveling across the state of Florida, sometimes in the early morning hours, Ellen would visit her clients in prisons and their homes to assist them in their quest to become American citizens.

Her firm, Ellen R. Gorman, P.A., was one of the largest immigration firms in west Florida, and employed many of the former clients who had become citizens and permanent residents. It practiced Immigration and Nationality Law, facilitated worker and investor visas, and was involved in a wide range of nationality issues.

Attorney Gorman was a member of the United States and Florida Supreme Courts, president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Central Florida Chapter, a member of the Association of International Educators and the St. Petersburg Bar Association. She served as a pro bono attorney for AmeriCorps.

She graduated from the New England School of Law, Boston, in 1992, with a Juris Doctor (Doctor of Law) degree; she earned a Master’s Degree in Education from Northeastern University, Boston, in 1979; and a Bachelor of Arts degree from State University of New York at Albany in 1974.

In addition to her parents, Ellen was preceded in death by her brother, Daniel Gorman.

Ellen is survived by her husband of 28 years, Christopher Martinez; three sisters, Mary Stenov (husband Eugene), Patricia Gorman, and Victoria Leptourgos (husband Roger Banks); and a brother, Eugene Gorman (wife Lynn); and various nieces and nephews.

A visitation for Ellen will be held Wednesday, April 30, 2025, from 9:30 AM to 10:30 AM at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, 2348 Collier Parkway, Land O' Lakes, FL 34639, followed by a Funeral Mass from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM.