Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Mayor

by Bernard McCormick Tuesday, February 15, 2011 No Comment(s)

The Fort Lauderdale Historical Society had a sensationally successful Founders Dinner last fall when it honored H. Wayne Huizenga as “Man of the Centennial.” The dinner was sold out at the Ritz-Carlton in just a few weeks, even before invitations went out. Did that ever happen around here before? The demand for tickets was so great that the hotel eliminated the dance floor to make room for additional tables. Even with that expansion, important people were calling around in the weeks before the dinner trying to find an extra seat or two.

 

 

It is not likely the Historical Society will match that great success any time soon, but it is making an effort to do so with its spring Friendship Luncheon, scheduled for April 29. There’s only one Wayne Huizenga, but there happen to be five former and present Fort Lauderdale mayors, and the luncheon will honor them all. It is an appropriate gesture in this centennial year, for starting with E. Clay Shaw (photographed here in 1975 before he became mayor) the list of mayors represent a good slice of the city’s 100-year history.

 

 

The others who followed Shaw are Robert Dressler, Bob Cox, Jim Naugle and present mayor Jack Seiler. Gold Coast magazine is preparing a special centennial issue, with emphasis on the development of the city during each of these mayors’ terms, along with profiles of pioneer families and businesses, including descendants still in the area.

 

 

Interestingly, four of the five mayors were introduced this morning for the Executives Association's very well-attended 50th anniversary economic forecast breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six. Equally interestingly, the idea for the Historical Society to celebrate the city’s anniversary by honoring the mayors was the idea of Historical Society trustee Susan Maurer, whose mother-in-law, the late Yolanda Maurer made her own contribution to history as the founding publisher of Gold Coast back in 1965.

 

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