Fort Lauderdale’s ‘biggest cheerleader’ Jack Drury dies at 90

Jack Drury, a colorful publicist whose connections to the rich and famous helped turn Fort Lauderdale into what he called a “playground of the stars” from the 1960s until the 1980s, has died.

Drury died Sept. 11, according to an announcement from his son, John Drury, on a social media page. Drury had a heart attack, said his son Chris Drury.

“He was 90 and lived an amazing life,” John Drury wrote. “Thank you for everything you did for me, our family and those you served through the Wheelchair Foundation. Open the gates!”

Drury was president of the southeast region of the foundation, which provides wheelchairs to people with disabilities worldwide.

In 2008, Arcadia Publishing released Drury’s book “Fort Lauderdale: Playground of the Stars,” a collection of his photographs and memories of the city and its celebrity residents and visitors, including Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, tennis great Billie Jean King and Buffalo Bob Smith.

“I had all these pictures, and people tired of my celebrity stories kept saying I should do a book,” Mr. Drury told the South Florida Sun Sentinel after it was published.

It was Drury who convinced Carson, early into his stint as host of “The Tonight Show,” to buy 60 acres of land in what is now Coral Springs in the mid 1960s. Carson later sold the land for a decent profit, according to Drury’s book.

After Hope taped his TV Christmas special in 1987, he and Drury went golfing in Coral Ridge.

And when King faced off against Bobby Riggs in the famed 1973 “Battle of the Sexes” match, Drury was there, serving as her agent. He’d been Riggs’ agent, too.

“Jack Drury was the biggest cheerleader Fort Lauderdale ever had,” said former city Mayor Jack Seiler, a longtime family friend. “You can’t overstate the impact that he had.”

Drury’s wife, Marie, died in August 2020. They are survived by two sons, John Drury and Chris Drury; two daughters, Sue Drury Kane and Linda Drury Smiciklas; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

A public memorial service is being planned for late October.

SUN SENTINEL FILE Jack Drury, pictured shortly after publication of his book about Fort Lauderdale and the famous people who came here in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s, died Sept. 11.