Contractor James Pirtle Sr. dies at 84
James Bransford Pirtle, Sr., whose company built more than 250 South Florida public schools and many well- known local buildings, died onTuesday of natural causes in his Southwest Ranches home. Hewas 84.
Mr. Pirtle founded Pirtle Construction Company in 1968 with two associates under the original name of Pirtle, Brewer and Clark Construction Company. He took sole ownership in 1971 and changed the company’s name.
Over the span of 44 years, he built a business that nowhas five offices, more than 100 employees and has completed more than 400 construction projects throught Florida. Thousands of students have sat in the buildings and walked the halls that Mr. Pirtle’s company built, from West Broward High School to Palm Beach Gardens High School to Miami Jackson Senior High School.
Other notable local projects included the African- American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale and the Young At Art musuem in Hollywood.
Mr. Pirtle was an old- fashioned gentleman who believed in a strong worth ethic and whose hand shake was as good as a contract, his daughter Laura Geary said on Wednesday. He was proud of his employees and the company he built, she said..
“He loved his work,” Geary said.“He loved the people and he loved the challenge. He loved building something and then being able to drive by it 20 years later and see it still standing.”
Pirtle Construction was one of the Broward County School District’s most
frequent contract winners, and was praised over the years by district officials for the work it did. The firm also constructs health- care buildings, higher- education facilities, libraries and other public and private institutions.
Her fatherwas devoted to those around him, Geary said. “Hewould do anything for friends and family,” she said.
Mr. Pirtle was born in Nashville, Tenn., to Laurena and Van Pirtle on Sept. 11, 1928.
He moved to South Florida in 1958 with his wife, Mary Kathryn Pirtle, who died in 2008. The two were married for more than 50 years. They had three children: James and daughters Laura andDaryl.
Her father also loved showing horses, Geary said. He had a farm in Ocala and another in Southwest Ranches near his home, and raised horses forshowjumping. The family visited the Ocala farm a few times a year, and Mr. Pirtle showed many horses that won national competitions, Geary said
Heal so was active in charitable causes throughout his life. Mr. Pirtle started the James and Mary Pirtle Foundation, which gives educational scholarships to underprivileged students, Geary said.
Pirtle Construction will continue to build, despite its founder’s death. Mr. Pirtle is followed as president of the company by Mike Geary, Laura Geary’s husband.
Mr. Pirtle is survived by his children and by grand children James Pirtle, III, Joseph Pirtle, Jonathan Pirtle, Jessica Pirtle, Jessie Pirtle, Jason Pirtle, Shyanna Pirtle, Lisa Pirtle, Lindsay Portela, Isabel Portela, Blake Geary, Amanda Geary, and greatgrandson James Pirtle, IV.
Services will be held Monday at Fred Hunter Funeral Home in Hollywood from 2 p. m. to 8 p. m. A mass will be held on Tuseday at10 a. m. at St. Mark Catholic Church in Southwest Ranches.