Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Former Tamarac commissioner Portner ‘stood by his convictions’
Edward “Ed” Portner, the former Tamarac commissioner who championed for the middle class and for people to eat healthy, has died.
He was 94.
Portner, who died last month, was cremated, said his nephew, Bruce Portner. “My uncle was oldschool,” Portner said. “Part of why people loved him and hated him is because he would speak his mind. He was a complete character.”
Edward Portner served on the Tamarac City Commission from 1999 through 2008, serving two stints as vice mayor, when term limits forced him out of office. And his political career came to an end when he was arrested in 2009.
Portner was a retired Levitz Furniture executive who moved to Tamarac with his wife, Helen, in 1974. While in office he spoke against senior discounts, saying middleclass families were more worthy of a financial break.
In 2006, citing America’s weight problem, Portner convinced the City Commission to urge restaurants to cut trans fats from their ingredients. Commissioners even replaced doughnuts with fruit at their meetings. He said at the time that the city wanted “to save the world.”
He opposed his colleagues’ plan on how to pay for a Main Street project in 2007, calling a plan to tax just 14 property owners $8.8 million “unconscionable” and “immoral.” The commission quickly backed down.
He also was known for his quick temper, even once ripping his toupee off his head during a yelling match in a public meeting.
Portner is the father of Stacy Ritter, a former county commissioner and state representative. In 2009, Portner was criminally charged after he showed up at his daughter’s home with a World War II vintage gun. He said he was motivated by the public humiliation of his daughter failing to support his candidacy for mayor, but said he meant no harm. Portner dropped out of the Tamarac mayoral election, and in 2010, he was sentenced to five years of probation as part of a plea deal.
Bruce Portner described his uncle as a liberal Democrat who was passionate about helping the community.
“He was pig-headed, a peacock in the way he dressed and drove around, but he truly cared — whether his positions were right or wrong. He cared about the people that he served and he stood by his convictions.”