Former Wilton Manors mayor

When his short political career ended, former Wilton Manors mayor King Wilkinson turned to preserving history.

Just weeks before his 81st birthday, Wilkinson died Saturday at a hospital. He recently had a heart attack.

His daughter remembers him as a man with an affinity for scratch-off Lotto tickets, and an animal lover who relished vacationing in Maine.

“He was a hot ticket,” said his daughter, Kelly Benjamin. “People loved that personality. Everyone loved him down here.”

The owner of Red’s Bar & Package in Wilton Manors, he owned a smoke-free bar and hadn’t smoked or drank in 49 years, according to Barbara Lunde, his girlfriend of 36 years.

“He was such a giving person and he gave of himself to so many organizations and so many groups,” she said. He was “an allaround friendly wonderful man.”

Born in 1938 in Maine, Wilkinson was a professional boxer from 1956-61. He moved to Cocoa Beach in 1962, then Fort Lauderdale in 1967.

He moved to Wilton Manors soon after that, serving as chairman for the city’s Board of Adjustment and then two terms as mayor starting in 1994, according to the Wilton Manors Historical Society. He also served as director of the city’s Civic Association and Business Association and was active with the city’s recreation youth programs.

But in 1996, he became the subject of controversy when he tried to stop the opening of a restaurant, allegedly because it was gayowned. His political career crumbled in 1998 after political opponents again accused him of being anti-gay. “Have I ever [used the terms] gay, … queer?’’ Wilkinson said at town meeting he called to try to defuse the issue in his reelection campaign. “I’m sure I have.” But he said that he never used the words in a derogatory way, and continuously said the allegations were rhetoric as part of an election ploy.

He lost the race to Jack Seiler, then the city’s vice mayor, who would later go on to the Florida House of Representatives and later mayor of Fort Lauderdale.

The Wilton Manors Historical Society named Wilkinson a city pioneer in 2014.

“We thought so highly of him,” said Mary Ulm, the historical society president. “He was such a wonderful supporter of the historical society. He just helped us every way he knew how. He wanted to see the history preserved and remembered.”

Wilkinson is survived by his two daughters, Benjamin of Manchester, Conn., and Terry Nugent of East Hartford, Conn.; four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life service will be 12 p.m. Sunday at Richardson Historic Park & Nature Preserve, 1937 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors.