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Former Mayor Charles McIntosh dies
By CHASE SQUIRES, Times Staff Writer DADE CITY -- Charles McIntosh -- longtime mayor, commissioner, community leader, World War II veteran, educator, father and husband -- died Monday (Aug. 26, 2002). He was 84. Mr. McIntosh, a Dade City native, stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, retired from the Army as a colonel, and was director of graduate studies at Syracuse University and the University of South Florida before he joined the Dade City Commission in 1985. Fellow commissioners elected him mayor from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1992 until he retired in 2000. Friends and family on Tuesday recalled a man of quiet compassion, religious faith and caring. "I'm a very sad person today," friend and City Commissioner Lowell Harris said. "He truly loved Dade City, and he was a positive influence in hundreds of people's lives, including my own." Harris said the two knew each other through church, where Mr. McIntosh was a devoted member. Harris credited the former mayor for his own decision to seek office in 2000. "We were leaving church, and he called me aside and said, 'You're going to run for my seat when it comes up.' I said, 'I don't think so,' and he said, 'You've got to.' "That's why I ran, because he asked me," Harris said. Mayor Scott Black said when he joined the City Commission in 1990 at age 25, Mr. McIntosh was his mentor. "I was a little intimidated coming on the commission with this hometown hero," Black said. "But then we were down in Pinellas at a Suncoast League of Cities meeting, and after the meeting he invited us over to a condo where he was staying the weekend. We started talking, and it wasn't long before -- horror of horrors -- I was calling him Charles. This man I had idolized, he was just such a warm man and made me so comfortable." Commissioner Eunice Penix said Mr. McIntosh guided her as she joined the commission and reassured her when difficult decisions had to be made. "I didn't want him to leave us ever," she said. Black paid tribute to his mentor last year when he brought him on stage as Black was installed as president of the Florida League of Cities. With his wry humor, Mr. McIntosh stole the show that night before government officials from virtually every city in the state. His daughter, Anne, on Tuesday recalled a doting father who placed family over everything. "My mother and my sister and I came first in all of those decisions and all of his life," she said. It was that devotion that led him to step down from the City Commission when his wife of more than 50 years, Virginia, was stricken with Alzheimer's disease. The two had met in war-ravaged Europe where she was with the American Red Cross. Mr. McIntosh knew it was love at first sight, his daughter said. She said he pursued her mother across Europe, finally succeeding in marrying her in Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, shortly after VE Day. When his wife's health began to fail in 2000, Mr. McIntosh stepped down from public life and turned his full attention to her. "He knew he needed to devote himself to her," his daughter said. "She had always been so supportive of everything he did, and so there he was for her. She was always by his side, and he was just totally devoted to her." Even after retiring from politics, Mr. McIntosh continued to be active, taking a major role in development of the Community Aging and Retirement Services senior center at the old Crescent Theatre. In recent months, he had been battling a heart condition at Heritage Park Specialty Care Center. His health deteriorated rapidly late last week. Black said he visited with Mr. McIntosh on Thursday and found him as alert and inquisitive as ever. The former mayor grilled him about civic doings, Black said. Mr. McIntosh's daughters were both with him when he died about 5:30 p.m. Monday. Even in his last days, Anne McIntosh said, her father was reaching out to nursing home staff, making friends and sharing his company. She said the family is saddened by the loss but buoyed by the legacy her father left. "How can you do anything but celebrate a man who was so extraordinary?" Anne McIntosh asked. On Tuesday, city flags were lowered to half-staff, and city workers lined Meridian Avenue with American flags in Mr. McIntosh's honor. The flags will remain up to honor those who died in last year's terrorist attacks. Visitation is scheduled from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Coleman & Ferguson Funeral Home in Dade City. Services are at 2 p.m. Saturday at Dade City's First United Methodist Church. He will be buried with military honors at the Enterprise cemetery off Enterprise Road. Mr. McIntosh is survived by his wife, Virginia, two daughters, Anne McIntosh of Wilmington, Del., and Susan Bruno of Tampa; one sister, Sara Knutson of Largo; one granddaughter, Sarah McIntosh Salzenberg of Wilmington, Del.; and numerous nephews and nieces. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to First United Methodist Church Christian Life Center and the Crescent Theatre project.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
