Vice admiral, Miami task force leader
When Diego “Duke” Hernandezwas growing up in San Juan as the bookish son of schoolteacher parents, his mother took him to see a fortune teller. The soothsayer saw a future involving the sea and airplanes.
Call it what you will — the power of suggestion, perhaps? — but Hernandez’s life soon revolved around the sea and airplanes. Even in retirement, as an appointed committee member who helped lead a visionary $10 billion transportation plan for Miami, Hernandez’s focus included infrastructure improvements to the seaport and airport.
Hernandez, a decorated vice admiral who commanded the Navy’s Third Fleet, died Friday at 83 of complications from Parkinson’s disease at his Miami Lakes home.
Hernandez’s military career spanned from 1955 to 1991. He led 147 combat missions in Vietnam and, in 1966, led the first strike conducted against two surfacetomissile sites in North Vietnam. Hewas shot down twice in the space of five months and earned the Silver Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
He was named commander of the USS John F. Kennedy in 1980 and commander of Naval forces in the Caribbean from 1982 to 1985. In1986, as commander of the Third Fleet in the Pacific, he transformed a group of mid- and seniorgrade officers from a training entity to a combat fleet facing the Siberian coast of the former SovietUnion.
In his final military assignment, Hernandez servedasdeputycommander in chief of the United States Space Command and vice commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from1989 to 1991.
“For a young kid from a working class family in Puerto Rico to end up as a three-star admiral is an amazing achievement,” said former MiamiMayorMaurice Ferré.
In 1994, as vice chair of the Metro Commission, Ferré appointedHernandez to lead a task force of more than 175 civic notables with an aim to boost tourism and trade.
Among its goals, the ambitious Metro-Miami Marketplace Destination: 2001 program called for a tunnel underneath Government Cut, running in and out of the port, to keep cargo trucks off downtown streets.
The Port Miami opened in 2014.
“Diego coordinated three committees and came out with important conclusions that are part of the strategic plans of Miami,” Ferré said. “A lot of things that have been done in Miami in the last 25 years came out of that study and Diegowas an important part.”
In post-military retirement, Hernandez and his family moved to Miami Lakes. He served as a consultant for General Motors in Latin America and was a board member of the Tribune Company.
In 1999, after a fatal U.S. training accident on the island of Vieques, President Bill Clinton and Defense Secretary William Cohen named Hernandez to a four-member panel to examine whether the range should be closed to bombing exercises. The Navy pulled out of Vieques in 2003.
“I never met a dedicated, man than Diego Ferré said.
Hernandez’s survivors include his wife, Sherry Hernandez; daughters, Selena Haines and Dolores Lane; granddaughter, AngelinaHaines; and sister, Rose. Tunnel more focused, patriotic Hernandez,”