Former state representative Eddy dies; buildings will fly flags at half-staff

Flags at government buildings in Broward County and at the Capitol in Tallahassee will fly at half-staff Friday in remembrance of James Rollins Eddy, a former member of the state House of Representatives, who died at age 91.

Eddy died Jan. 20 “peacefully at home with family” after a leukemia diagnosis, according to an online obituary.

Eddy represented Broward County and District 82 in the House between 1963 to 1968, serving on the Rules Committee and the Appropriations Committee, the Government Organization Committee and as Vice Chairman of the Pari-Mutuels Affairs Committee, the governor’s office said in a news release. For the last two years of his time in the House, Eddy was the minority floor leader.

He was born in Connecticut and attended Duke University where he was a wrestler, student pilot and a U.S. Air Force ROTC Cadet, graduating in 1953, according to his online obituary. While serving as an Air Force intelligence officer in Japan and Korea after graduating, he was assigned to a tactical group and flew Martin B-26 Marauders.

Eddy graduated from the University of Miami School of Law after serving in the military, working in private practice as an attorney until he ran for the state House. He was elected for four terms and resumed his private legal practice in 1969, his online obituary said.

Eddy was a municipal judge in Lighthouse Point and Tamarac, as well as Deerfield Beach’s city attorney, a city prosecutor in Pompano Beach and city lobbyist for Wilton Manors, according to his obituary.

He is survived by his wife, children and stepchildren and many grandchildren and step-grandchildren and great-grandchildren.