Tampabay: School Board member Todd die

Thomas C. "Tom" Todd, a colorful Pinellas County School Board member who was seeking a second term, died Friday on the eve of his daughter's wedding. He was 73..

Mr. Todd, former School Board chairman who was a veteran educa-tor in Florida and South Dakota, died at 12:50 p.m. Friday in the emergency room at St. Petersburg General Hos pital. Mr. Todd's family said he had a heart attack, unrelated to an illness in mid-December that put him in the hospital.

The husband of Pinellas County Commissioner Barbara Sheen Todd, he was the first announced candidate for the School Board's District 4 seat, which covers Pinellas' southwest corner.

Mrs. Todd called him her soul mate, "the kindest and most wonderful husband one could ever have. He was such a beautiful, handsome man."

Friday morning, they were talking about brochures for his re-election campaign and Mr. Todd remarked that they had been married 30 years. Mrs. Todd corrected him that it had been 29.

She remembers that he responded: "I feel like I have been married to you my whole life."

Gov. Jeb Bush can appoint an interim board member to fill Mr. Todd's seat. Officials in the Governor's Office said late Friday that he will review how to handle the vacancy.

Mr. Todd was planning to walk his daughter. Tiffany, down the aisle today. Mrs. Todd and School Board member Max Gessner, who is performing the wedding, said the ceremony will go on as planned.

"It will be very difficult, but they said that's what Tom would want," Gessner said. "I'll work in some comments about Tom not being there. Just a few words, I guess. As much as I can handle."

Mr. Todd's friends, family and colleagues recalled a passionate advocate for children, a patriot who believed strongly that parent involvement in schools was key to a student's success.

They also, laughing out loud, recalled his quirky sense of humor.

Mr. Todd cared for goats on the family farm in Hardee County, naming them after his fellow School Board members. He rescued a cat, naming the feline FCAT after the state test educators often complain about. Once, after a board meeting, Mr. Todd played a tape recording of his geese honking.

That, he said, was what the board sounded like.

"In order to get through this life, you have to have to have some humor," said school Superintendent Howard Hinesley. "He had it."

Mr. Todd's colleagues also remembered him as a man who spoke his mind. Because of that, watching Mr. Todd during board meetings held a person's interest.

"You never knew quite what he was going to say," recalled former Superintendent Scott Rose.

Nick Kotaiche, co-owner of a construction company, had lunch plans with Mr. Todd on Friday and discovered him on the floor of his bedroom. He called 911 and performed CPR.

Kotaiche and Mr. Todd met some 15 years ago at the flea market, where they operated booths adjacent to each other. He recalled that at the flea market, Mr. Todd sold lamps, shells, "all sorts of things."

"He would buy things from me, and I'd buy things from him," he said. "He would tell me he bought something for $5 and sold it for $7.50. We had fun. And we become good friends."

An outspoken advocate of fundamental schools, Mr. Todd wanted the district to open three such high schools.

"We'll do our best to see that's fulfilled," said Bud Zimmer, a fundamental school advocate who frequently attended board meetings.

Mr. Todd also sought more programs that address the needs of disruptive students, a greater emphasis on phonics in elementary reading programs and more community involvement in schools.

With another term, Mr. Todd had said, he would lobby the Legislature to make financing for education more stable. Without more money, local districts will continue to have trouble recruiting and retaining qualified teachers and administrators, he said.

"Our teachers deserve more than they are getting," he said.

A Republican and former Democrat, Mr. Todd was elected to the board to succeed Corinne Freeman, a former St. Petersburg mayor. She retired from the board in 1998.

He favored more in-school suspension programs and a special school near the Pinellas County Jail for students with chronic disciplinary problems. He supported the board's push to end busing for desegregation and said he was committed to establishing programs that would encourage voluntary integration.

He had decades of experience in public schools. He was a school principal and the elected superintendent of Bay County schools in the Florida Panhandle for six years.

A career educator, he was an executive assistant to former state Education Commissioner Floyd Christian and served briefly as the top aide to Christian's appointed successor, Ralph Turlington, in the mid-1970s.

Afterward, he became state superintendent of schools in South Dakota, which had about the same population as Pinellas County.

In 1980, he left to work as an educational consultant for several years and returned to Pinellas County to sell real estate. In 1983 he was a finalist for the job of chief administrator of the Pinellas County Juvenile Welfare Board.

In 1986 he organized a group to fight the campaign for a state lottery led by his old boss, Turlington. The fight reached the state Supreme Court, which rejected Mr. Todd's attempt to keep voters from considering the lottery. The lottery passed.

A native of Dothan, Ala., Thomas Carmel Todd graduated in 1955 from Troy (Ala.) State Teachers College, now Troy State University.

In 1957, with a master's degree in educational administration from Florida State University, he joined the Pinellas County School District as the first principal of Ponce de Leon Elementary in Clearwater.

During the Korean War, he was an Army pilot who flew 144 combat missions.

Survivors include his wife of 29 years, and five adult children. Mr. Todd also had 14 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. July 8 at First Church of the Nazarene in Pinellas Park.

-- Staff writers Stephen Hegarty and Alisa Ulferts contributed to this report, which also used information from Times files.

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