Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Former commissioner a political force
Former Palm Beach County Commissioner Burt Aaronson, never one to pass up a chance to sing, serenaded guests at his 90th birthday party in May with one of his Frank Sinatra favorites: “My Way.”
It was a fitting song for a man who made himself a force in south county politics, for 20 years representing the residents living west of Boca Raton, Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, while at the same time becoming a power broker wooed by state and national candidates because of the votes his support could deliver.
Still, when he died at home Thursday morning, it was with the people that mattered most surrounding him: his family.
“As much as he loved the county, he loved his family more,” son Rick Aaronson said. “He put us before anything.”
Aaronson was first elected in 1992, six years after moving to Florida from New Jersey, and held onto his seat until he was forced out by term limits in 2012.
“He would still be county commissioner if they hadn’t term-limited him out. He loved this county,” his son said.
U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-West Boca, said, “Burt Aaronson was larger than life.
“He was always happy to do anything he could to help others, from building bridges within our community to advocating for stem cell research to standing up for Israel,” Deutch said in a written statement. “Personally, he was my
mentor, friend, and confidante. He helped guide me into public service and was always there for me — with advice, inspiration, and even well-meaning criticism or a joke.”
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-West Delray, had similar thoughts.
“He expanded public safety facilities and parks, and established attractions like the Palm Beach International Film Festival,” Hastings said in statement. “He was known as a person willing to work with anyone who could help make our community better, and will undoubtedly be remembered for his larger-thanlife character, his unwavering commitment to his family, and his devout commitment to Palm Beach County.”
Deutch singled out Aaronson’s efforts to create the South County Regional Park west of Boca Raton. Rick Aaronson said his dad’s proudest moment was when commissioners named the park after him in recognition of his service.
The park, with its ball fields, playgrounds, amphitheater, dog park and nature center, is a crowning achievement of Aaronson’s tenure, said Sheri Scarborough, president of the West Boca Community Council.
“That can’t be outdone,” Scarborough said. “I think of Burt and his extraordinary vision for West Boca and how he managed to get so many wonderful benefits for the residents.”
Aaronson was also a major booster of a 1999 bond referendum that provided $100 million for the county to purchase land in the 33-square-mile Ag Reserve west of Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, to keep it safe from development and to continue to allow it to be used for farming.
He turned his district into a political force, attracting candidates for all offices, including president, said Mary McCarty, a former county commissioner who served with Aaronson.
“He had so much clout in his district that he could deliver for candidates if he was on board,” McCarty said. “As a result, his constituents were paid attention to. And when people needed something, they were listened to.”
McCarty, a Republican, developed a friendship with Aaronson, a Democrat, that was tested in the years following the Bush vs. Gore presidential vote, when partisanship became a driving force. But she said Aaronson was proud of his first vote on the commission, for her to become the commission chairwoman. She remembers how he treated her after she was imprisoned after pleading guilty to a federal felony count of honest services fraud in 2009.
“It means a lot when someone reaches out to you when you can’t help them, when you’re at the lowest point in your life. And that’s what Burt and Sheila did for me, and for [my late husband] Kevin,” she said.
Aaronson himself was investigated by the FBI for a 1997 deal in which a former county housing official supposedly took $20,000 from a developer in exchange for Aaronson’s support of a proposed warehouse project, but Aaronson denied any wrongdoing and no charges were ever filed.
While Aaronson wasn’t sullied in office, four of his fellow commissioner were caught up in scandals of their own and resigned or went to prison.
Aaronson was succeeded in office by Commissioner Mary Lou Berger, who had been his commission aide for 18 years. She described him as a “softy” with a “big heart,” who instructed her “that I should be prepared, that I should be fair and I should take care of the constituents in District 5.”
She remembers a controversial affordable housing project. “We were at one of the community club houses. There was a lot of animosity about it, ‘We don’t want ‘those’ people,’” she recalled.
Aaronson got up and said, “Each and every one of us have been one of ‘those’ people at some point in their life,” whether it be man or woman, Catholic or Jew, black or white, Berger said. “That statement always stuck with me.”
McCarty remembers her biggest fight with Aaronson was over the Costco built on South Congress Avenue, in McCarty’s district, which she opposed and he supported.
“He was proud of the fact that he beat me on that,” McCarty said. “He was proud not because he beat me, but because it was something that the citizens in the area were so happy to have.”
Aaronson was born in Brooklyn in 1928 and grew up during the Great Depression, the only son of Irving and Irene Aaronson. He wanted to serve in World War II after losing a cousin in the war, but he was a bit too young, Rick Aaronson said.
He married his wife, Sheila, in 1949. They lived in New Jersey, where he was an executive vice president with Eclipse Sleep Products, a mattress firm; president of Aaronson Associates, a sales and marketing company; and director of international sales for DeVille Furniture Co.
It wasn’t until Aaronson arrived in Florida and became active at Gleneagles, where he was on the board of governors, that his political side emerged.
“His retirement became politics,” Rick Aaronson said. “He put his heart into it.”
But politics was always second to family. His aides had standing orders to patch through calls from family members to him no matter what meeting he was in or what he was doing, his son said.
He had nonpolitical talents, especially his singing. He was a crooner who liked the limelight, ever ready to sing at a bar mitzvah, wedding or political gathering.
“I think as a young man, he could have been a professional singer,” Rick Aaronson said. “Anytime he was asked to take the mike, he was not shy. He was good.”
Aaronson is survived by his wife, Sheila, sons Rick and Daniel, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Sunday at Beth Israel Memorial Chapel, 5808 W. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach. Internment will follow at Eternal Light Memorial Gardens, Boynton Beach. Donations can be made to Special Olympics, Aaronson’s favorite charity.