Scott Vandergrift,
Ocoee’s mayor for 25 years, dies at age 77.
When Scott Vandergrift was Ocoee’s mayor, he was easy to spot.
He was the chatty man with a bushy gray mustache driving a red Prius with a “Mayor” sign on the doors and an “Ocoee1” license plate.
He often wore a ballcap bearing the words “Ocoee Mayor” with a butterfly pinned to the bill — even to functions that required a suit and tie. Vandergrift, 77, who served as mayor of Orange County’s third-largest city for 25 years, died Thursday, Ocoee spokeswoman Joy Wright said.
He had retired from office in 2015, citing a list of health problems. Ocoee’s announcement of his death said he was taken off life support. It did not cite a cause of death.
“He loved being mayor and being with the people,” said Ocoee Mayor Rusty Johnson, who never ran against Vandergrift.
Vandergrift served as a city commissioner from 1967 to 1969, then was elected to a term as mayor in 1973. He was elected mayor again in 1992 and served nine consecutive terms, a mayoral tenure in Central Florida exceeded only by John Land’s 61 years as Apopka mayor.
The city grew from 15,000 residents in 1992 when he took office to 43,000 when he stepped down, according to U.S. Census figures.
Though Ocoee is governed by a professional-manager form of government and the mayor’s role is mostly ceremonial, Vandergrift was involved in some of the city’s crucial issues. He is credited with rallying support to build Ocoee High School.
“I respected him for loving the city of Ocoee,” Johnson said. “Scotty and I had different opinions about a lot of things, but he loved Ocoee and I do, too.”
Johnson said the city will honor Vandergrift somehow, perhaps with a butterfly garden or at Ocoee’s baseball and softball fields.
The ex-mayor loved tending to butterflies and coaching little leaguers. He cherished Valentine’s Day, offering to preside over nuptials at the Ocoee Gazebo near Starke Lake.
Often quirky, Vandergrift’s office door bore a sign that read, “Beware of Attack Butterfly.” He once jumped out of airplane to promote his city and led a duck parade at the Peabody Hotel.
Widowed in 2013 when Beth, his wife of 22 years, died after a fight with cancer, Vandergrift told the Orlando Sentinel in 2015 that his own failing health interfered with his hobbies, which included self-publishing an electronic newsletter called the Community Gazette.
He started the email newsletter in 2005, but shut it down in November because he lacked the energy to crank out the 5,000-word missives.
It typically included a detailed governmental calendar and links to news stories in the Orlando Sentinel and on TV websites, but its charm was a collection of job openings and garage sales, soccer sign-ups, youth concerts and other oddities, including an edition featuring his X-rays.
He signed every issue, “Thanks for caring, mayorscott.”
Vandergrift defended his practice of wearing his title on his shirt, his hat, his car and his golf cart.
“Some people get elected and they hide — they stop talking to people who disagree with them,” he once said. “Not me. I believe in not hiding from the people. They put you in office, and they can throw you out.”
Orange Mayor Teresa Jacobs said she was heartbroken to learn of Vandergrift’s death, calling him a “transformative mayor for Ocoee.”
“He was a beloved Central Florida leader and an icon — a true son of Ocoee,” she said. “I’m going to miss him, and I know that our entire Central Florida region will feel this loss — especially the people of West Orange County, which he loved so deeply.”