Tenorio, Froilan C. (Froilan Cruz), 1939-2020

Froilan Cruz "Lang" Tenorio (September 9, 1939 – May 4, 2020) was a Northern Mariana Islands businessman and politician. Aligned for most of his career with the CNMI Democratic Party, he notably served as the second Resident Representative of the Northern Mariana Islands to Washington, D.C. from 1984 to 1990 and as the fourth Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands from 1994 to 1998.

After graduating from the University of Guam and Marquette University, Tenorio was subsequently employed by the Los Angeles, California department of public works. In 1972 he was hired by the Micronesian Construction Company. He founded his own construction company two years later. He served one term as a CNMI Senator from 1980 to 1984 before being elected to three two-year terms representing the Commonwealth in Washington, DC. After losing his first bid for governor in 1989, he ran again in 1993 and won. As Governor, Tenorio was a firm fiscal conservative and was a fierce opponent of federal legislation that would have extended federal minimum wage and immigration laws to the CNMI, which at that time was exempt from those laws. He was defeated for re-election in 1997.

After he lost his bid for re-election, Tenorio repeatedly attempted to return to the governor's office. In 2001, he ran in a four-way race as the candidate of the CNMI Reform Party, losing by a large margin. In 2005, running as a Democrat, he placed fourth in the four-way race. In May 2009, Tenorio announced that he had joined the Covenant Party and was allied with Governor Benigno Fitial. Rather than seeking the gubernatorial post again, Tenorio successfully ran for a seat in the Northern Mariana Islands House of Representatives. He was subsequently selected for the post of Speaker of the House, serving from 2010 to 2013. Tenorio died in Fort Worth, Texas at the age of 80.