Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Director of Port Everglades dies
Steve Cernak, the director of Port Everglades for the past seven years, has died at his home in Plantation after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Cernak took the position in 2012, leading it through a major improvement project. County Administrator Bertha Henry credited him with moving forward a decadeslong effort to deepen and expand the port.
Port Everglades director Steve Cernak, who took the helm there in 2012 and was leading it through a major improvement project, died Saturday. He was 63.
Cernak, who battled pancreatic cancer for several years, died at his home in Plantation.
County Administrator Bertha Henry lauded his “dogged persistence” applied to whatever task was at hand.
“He knew what the marine industry means to Broward County,” Henry said. “He understood the economic value of having a port like ours.”
Cernak was determined not to let his illness interfere with his work. He was a daily presence at the port until about two weeks ago, and Henry said he didn’t think twice about traveling to Chile in October for the annual conference of the American Association of Port Authorities. He was the organization’s immediate past chairman.
She credited him with moving forward a decadeslong effort to deepen and expand the port, to accommodate more and larger vessels.
“That dredging project was just stalled and stalled and stalled,” Henry said. “We came as close as we’ve ever gotten with his leadership, nonstop pursuing it and pushing it.”
Now the county is waiting for Congressional funding, Henry said. Cernak also split the overall project into two portions, allowing the Southport Turning Notch Expansion work to begin. That effort is creating five additional berths — ship parking spaces — for cruise and container ships coming into the port.
The port generated nearly $168 million in revenues in fiscal year 2018. It is one of the nation’s leading container ports and a world leader in the cruise industry.
“He was a driving force behind expansion of Port Everglades,” Dan Lindblade, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, wrote in a letter to his staff.
“During his seven-year tenure, he remained steadfast in his focus to the mission of the key projects to prepare the port for its future never looking for credit,” Lindblade wrote.
Cernak grew up on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the son of immigrants from Sweden and Czechoslovakia. He got a job as a civil engineer designing airport runways for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey before becoming its manager of port development. He was also director of the Port of Galveston from 1999 until coming to Broward County.
He was an avid photographer. He loved the New York Knicks and the Grateful Dead with a passion only exceeded by the love he had for his family.
“There was nothing that my dad loved more than his grandkids, my two children,” said his daughter Kimberly Cernak. “We have pictures of him showing pictures of my kids to congresspeople, to anyone he came across. Even when they didn’t ask to see them, he would keep showing them.”
Cernak is survived by his wife, Cindy, daughter Kimberly (Dennis Vega) and son Steven Cernak (Meredith), both of the Washington D.C. area, and two grandchildren. His last words — an “I love you” — and a smile were for his third grandchild, whom his son and his son’s wife are expecting.
The family will not be holding a public service, but welcomed friends to send their favorite photos of Cernak to porteverglades@broward.org. In lieu of flowers, the family suggested contributions be made to the Seafarers’ House at Port Everglades or the United Way of Galveston.