| Sam Bell Former state lawmaker and lobbyist Sam Bell, III died unexpectedly March 14th. Bell represented Volusia County as a Democrat in the Florida House of Representatives from 1974 to 1988. He served as appropriations chair and was on the verge of becoming House Speaker when he lost his reelection to a Republican challenger in 1988. Following his years in public office, Bell helped establish the Florida Healthy Kids Program and lobbied for years as an advocate for children and health care, including as a founder of the University of South Florida College of Public Health. Bell was married to former Florida education commissioner Betty Castor and was stepfather to Congresswoman Kathy Castor and Frank Castor. Bell had three sons from his first marriage, David Bell, Douglas Bell and Sam Bell IV. He was 83. John Hitt John Hitt, former President of the University of Central Florida, died on February 20th at the age of 82, less than five years after retiring from the University where he spent 26 years at the helm. During Hitt’s tenure, the longest for any state university system president since the 1940’s, UCF tripled its enrollment and awarded over 260,000 degrees. He also shepherded the creation of a new campus in downtown Orlando which opened in 2019. He said it best in a 2017 interview, “I hope I’ll be remembered and thought of as someone who was committed to improving access to high quality education at an affordable price. And someone who cared equally about access and excellence.” Tom Pelham Former Secretary of the Florida Department of Community Affairs Tom Pelham died at the age of 79 on February 21st. Pelham was a legal expert on environmental issues and land use and earned his undergraduate and law degree from FSU. He served twice as the Secretary of the now-defunct Florida Department of Community Affairs, appointed first in 1987 by former Governor Bob Martinez, then again by Governor Charlie Crist in 2007. As Secretary, he played a key role in influencing Florida’s growth and development, shaping state policy and working with local governments to implement the landmark Growth Management Act, adopted the Legislature in 1985. Pelham penned the memoir, Kids Don’t Have Backs in 2021 describing his childhood working on his father’s farm in Holmes County. Patricia Schroeder Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder (D-Colorado) died on March 13th in Celebration, Florida. Schroeder was the first woman from Colorado elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and one of only 14 women in Congress at the time. She served from 1973 to 1997 and is credited with passing the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. In 1998, she released a book, 24 Years of Housework … and the Place is Still a Mess. My Life in Politics. Schroeder was 82 and had lived in the City of Celebration since 2010. |
