Longtime Palm Beach County Commissioner Aaronson dead at 90

Oct. 25--Retired Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, who for two decades represented the sprawling area west of Boca Raton, has died at 90, his family confirmed Thursday morning.

They said Aaronson died Thursday morning, surrounded by family. He had dealt with medical issues, undergoing triple-bypass surgery in 1997 and open-heart surgery to replace an aortic valve in 2015. He also had had a pacemaker installed.

The retired furniture executive, born in Brooklyn in 1928, got his start in local politics by serving on his condo association board, was elected in 1992 and became one of the most powerful leaders in the county, wielding the ability to assemble a militia of residents to support his political causes.

His south county region is the only commission district that doesn't include any municipalities. Instead, it is comprised of a network of tightly knit neighborhood groups and associations.

Newly established term limits forced out Aaronson in 2012. Mary Lou Berger, his former administrative assistant, successfully ran for his post and has held it for two terms.

"He was my mentor and my friend," Berger said Thursday at commission zoning meeting. Berger spoke with each commissioner before the meeting, and with the mayor's permission, she informed the public and asked for prayers and thoughts for the family.

In 2015, Aaronson made a rare appearance at a commission meeting to salute Berger, who just had been named to the commission's mostly ceremonial mayor's post.

"It's always wonderful to see a member of your family rise up to the heights," Aaronson, then 87, told Berger.

And at a 2016 appearance, Aaronson drew smiles when he joked that when term limits ousted Berger in 2020, he'd run for his own seat; "I'll be only 92!" he quipped.

"My dad still would've been county commissioner to this day if he hadn't term-limited out. He loved it," eldest son Rick Aaronson said Thursday.

Aaronson worked as a lobbyist well into his 80s.

While Aaronson dedicated much of his life to public office, he put his family first, son Rick said.

"When he was commissioner, he told his secretaries at his office that no matter what he was doing, if he got a call from me or my brother or my mom, pass the call through."

The family had hoped Aaronson would survive until February, when he and his wife would reach their 70th anniversary, Rick said.

Aaronson's passion for politics spread. Grandson Scott worked for political campaigns and now lives in Washington D.C. Daughter-in-law, Rebecca, was mayor of a New Jersey town.

"When we were together as a family, we talked politics," Rick said. "The passion of that was from my dad. It was hard not to talk about it."

At his 2012 retirement, Aaronson pointed to a list of accomplishments.

They included the county's Special Olympics athletic and therapeutic center in suburban Lake Worth. He also founded the Palm Beach International Film Festival and is credited with shaving more than $70 million off the fees that residents in the unincorporated areas pay for garbage service.

Aaronson fought to prevent the county's Solid Waste Authority from building a landfill and incinerator on 1,662 acres west of Boca Raton in the early 1990s and was the first commissioner to install illuminated street signs in his district.

He supported a bond issue that provided $100 million to buy land in the county's 20,500-acre Agricultural Reserve, west of Boynton Beach and Delray Beach. He pushed to build a golf course at a new park west of Boca Raton, now named Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park.

And he fought to reduce the number of foreign guest workers in the Palm Beach County country club and hospitality industry.

"He was a great servant for Palm Beach County," Lantana Mayor David Stewart said Thursday. "His many years in office were always on a positive force for the future of Palm Beach County and the citizens of the area he represented."

Veteran political operative Andre Fladell called Aaronson "a remarkable character who simply didn't know that he was a larger than life governor of Palm Beach County." He described Aaronson and former fellow commissioner Karen Marcus as "larger-than-life characters who are the last of an entire era," adding, "Karen was the ice princess of the north, Burt was the godfather of the south."

There were two sides to Burt Aaronson, the elected official: A cooperative commissioner who worked across party lines, and a worthy adversary who challenged colleagues to accomplish goals for his community, said Mary McCarty, who served alongside Aaronson for 16 years.

Aaronson's first vote on the county commission was to appoint McCarty, a Republican, chairwoman -- against his party's wishes.

"He was Democrat. I was Republican," McCarty said. "A lot people in his party were upset with him for voting for a Republican for chairman. He stood up to them."

McCarty's respect for Aaronson, and his willingness to work across the aisle on south county issues, grew deep.

But they surely clashed. When Aaronson wanted to build a Costco in Boca Raton, in McCarty's district, they battled.

"And he prevailed," McCarty said. The Costco on Congress Avenue is one of several little legacies Aaronson leaves behind, just like the first fire station in suburban Boca Raton, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office substations and the eponymous Burt Aaronson South County Regional Park, all of which Aaronson worked to bring the growing western community.

All the while, he worked to preserve the balance between agricultural land and the sprawling suburbia.

"He would often say to me: 'Don't you miss it?' " McCarty said, Aaronson referring to their time in public office. "He missed it terribly."

Aaronson also faced controversy. In 2001, he was named in an FBI probe concentrating on a "smart bucks" $20,000 payoff by real estate broker Lloyd Hasner. The 1997 payoff was supposed to be funneled to Aaronson's associate in exchange for the commissioner supporting a controversial zoning change for a self-storage warehouse and automotive repair complex west of Delray Beach, Hasner reportedly said on an FBI tape.

But Aaronson never supported the project and denied involvement in the alleged scheme. During a news conference to clear his name, Aaronson, bordering on tears, called Hasner "deplorable." Nothing came of the federal probe.

Aaronson also noted a complaint filed with the county's ethics commission questioning $400 in gala tickets he accepted from a paving company. The commission ruled Aaronson did not violate the county's ethics rules, but issued a "letter of instruction" cautioning Aaronson to "be more diligent in the future about investigating the source of any gift." Aaronson declared that a victory.

Aaronson is survived by his wife, Sheila and sons Rick of Manalapan, N.J. and Dan, of Broward County, along with five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Staff writers Alexandra Seltzer and Joe Capozzi contributed to this story.

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