Alcee Hastings didn’t want a funeral, so there won’t be one

Congressman Alcee Hastings, who died Tuesday at 84, was adamant: He did not want a service.

So there won’t be one, his chief of staff, Lale Morrison, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday.

Morrison said many people have been asking about arrangements, and she’s informed them of his edict.

“Those were his wishes,” she said. “His wishes were not to have a funeral service.”

There will be a congressional memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Congressional Black Caucus will have its own event in honor of one of its longtime members. Arrangements haven’t been made yet.

At some point, well into the future, there may be a celebration of life in South Florida, where Hastings lived for almost 60 years.

His wish was to be cremated.

Hastings, the longest serving member of the Florida congressional delegation, was first elected to Congress in 1992. In late 2018, he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

For much of the ensuing two years, he continued public appearances between treatments, but more recently he hadn’t been doing so.

Hastings wasn’t able to travel to Washington, D.C., in January for the swearing in of the new Congress. The oath of office for his 15th term was administered by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who represents an adjacent South Florida district.