Ernest Darwin Fuchs November 3, 1936 - January 23, 2022

Miami, Florida - Ernest Darwin Fuchs, the longtime president and CEO of the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair & Exposition who built a small county fair into one of the largest annual nonprofit events in North America, attended by hundreds of thousands, died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2022. He was 85.

“South Florida lost a wonderful community leader with the passing of Darwin Fuchs,” said Merrett Stierheim, Miami-Dade County manager from 1976 to 1986 and decades-long friend of Fuchs.

During Fuchs’ 34-year tenure from 1969 to 2004 at The Youth Fair, he worked hand in hand with Stierheim, who also served as Miami-Dade County Public Schools superintendent from 2001 to 2004.

Stierheim recalls Fuchs as a man of integrity and generosity who held the magic of thinking big. During the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, more than 100,000 refugees from Cuba arrived on the Florida east coast, Fuchs promptly opened the fair gates, Stierheim said.

“I called Darwin when refugees were landing at our shores, and I asked, ‘What can we do?’ Darwin quickly responded, ‘Have them come here to the Fairgrounds, and I’ll open up the big exhibit hall,’ which he promptly did. Over the hectic weeks that followed, we processed close to 40,000 refugees, uniting many with their Miami families,” Stierheim said.

Fuchs also initiated with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the county to obtain funds to build a pavilion on the Fairgrounds to serve as a Category-4 hurricane shelter, one of few in the area to accept pets. He worked with the Archdiocese of Miami to turn the Fairgrounds into the site of the papal mass in 1987 with Pope John Paul II.

“Darwin was a visionary, and he was a consensus builder. He created The Youth Fair into a center of the community in good times and in times of need,” said Youth Fair president Eddie Cora.

Fuchs created the master plan for The Youth Fair, which opened in 1972 on 86 acres at the east end of the former Tamiami Airport at Southwest 107th Avenue and Coral Way Drive. The board of the private, nonprofit organization approved a $35 million budget, which Fuchs used at no cost to the county to develop a sophisticated multi-purpose venue that became one of the largest attended fairs and expositions in North America.

With youth always front and center, he situated the Fairgrounds to consolidate the remaining space at Tamiami Park for sports activities. The Youth Fair built the baseball fields and soccer fields that are used by county park recreational programs.

A strong believer in giving back to the community, Fuchs initiated a building program that resulted in two ambitious projects. The first was the construction of a state-of-the-art football and track stadium to be used by Florida International University, the Miami-Dade County Parks Recreational and Open Spaces, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The second was to build a modern, multi-theater performing arts center with FIU to showcase The Youth Fair’s dance, drama and music exhibitors during the annual fair. The Youth Fair contributed generously to both projects.

The lanky 6-foot-6 Fuchs was born Nov. 3, 1936, in Rome, Ind., and grew up on the family farm. From the time he was 5 years old, his family spent the winter months in Fort Lauderdale, where he graduated in 1955 from Fort Lauderdale Senior High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in communications from the University of Florida where he played on the Gators’ varsity basketball team. In January 1960, he went to work for an advertising agency in Miami. Within a year, he formed his own agency.

In 1964, he joined Rand Broadcasting radio station WINZ in Miami, where he worked as an account executive. Fulfilling one of his interests to work with youth, he joined the Dade County Youth Fair board of directors and was named vice president.

He took a two-week vacation from WINZ in 1967-68 to manage the six-day fair. With that experience, he was hooked and became the fulltime fair manager in 1969. That same year, he began negotiations with the county to move the fair from its small patch of land on North Kendall Drive.

Fuchs signed a 90-year lease agreement with the county in 1970 to move the fair to Tamiami Park. It was Fuchs’ desire to advance youth achievement by setting the fair’s mission to promote education and South Florida agriculture. Under Fuchs’ leadership, the fair operated as a fundraising event to provide college scholarships. Since then, Miami-Dade students have been the recipients of more than $10 million in scholarships, awards and cash prices. The Youth Fair is the only place in the county where students from public and private schools can exhibit their achievements, with the fair volunteers annually curating submissions from more than 50,000 students.

As the years passed, Fuchs expanded the annual fair from six days to 18 days and directly employed 600 people for temporary and parttime services before, during and after the fair and nearly 40 full-time professional staff members. The Fairgrounds is host to an additional 70 public and private events year round. In addition, The Youth Fair funds and coordinates with the Miami Dade County Public Schools and the Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces Department to promote and sponsor athletic competitions each fall and spring for 10,000 Miami-Dade County middle school and high school students.

Throughout his career, Fuchs served the fair industry in various roles and received numerous awards. He was president of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, the Florida Federation of Fairs, the Midwest Fair Associations and the Miami-Dade County 4-H Foundation. He served on the boards of the Annenberg Challenge, FIU Athletic Advisory Board, the South Florida Resource Conservation Development Council and was appointed chairman of the Miami-Dade County Library Advisory Board by the Miami-Dade Commission. He also served as a member on the general advisory committee for Vocational, Adult, and Community Education for District of Columbia Public Schools.

Fuchs was recognized for his dedication to the community and inducted into the International Association of Fairs & Expositions Hall of Fame, the Florida Federation of Fairs Hall of Fame and the 4-H Foundation Hall of Fame. On the opening day of the 2007 fair, the 55,000 square-foot exhibition hall built in 2000 was renamed the E. Darwin Fuchs Pavilion to honor 36 years of dedication.

A sports enthusiast, Fuchs loved big-game fishing. He found time to fish in Alaska, Venezuela, Costa Rica, the Cayman, Virgin and Bahama islands and most of the coastal waters of Florida.

“Darwin was a professional associate and a personal fishing buddy. For many years we went salmon fishing together for a week in Alaska, not to mention numerous weekend day trips in the Florida Everglades and the Keys,” Stierheim said.

Fuchs is survived by his wife, Mimi, of 62 years, his two sons Troy and Lance, his grandchildren Victoria, Garrett and Connor, and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, at Stanfill Funeral Home, 10545 S. Dixie Hwy. A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, at Church of the Epiphany, 8235 SW 57th Ave., South Miami. Burial will follow at 2 p.m. at Lauderdale Memorial Park, 2001 SW 4th St., Fort Lauderdale.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition Scholarship Fund, 10901 SW 24th St., Miami, FL 33165: or to IAFE Education Foundation Scholarship Fund, 3043 E. Cairo St., Springfield, MO 65802.