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Florida Legislature 2005 (click for ongoing coverage)

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Center may peel off Byrd name

A Tampa Alzheimer's disease center should be renamed for Ronald Reagan, a Senate panel says.

By STEVE BOUSQUET
Published March 31, 2005

TALLAHASSEE - Former House Speaker Johnnie Byrd was such a polarizing figure, even his name is still a liability in some circles.

A Senate committee voted Wednesday to rename the Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center & Research Institute in Tampa after former President Ronald Reagan, who died last June of complications from the disease.

The Legislature last year named the center after Byrd's father, who died of Alzheimer's. Building the center was one of Byrd's top priorities as speaker.

"Johnnie Byrd is a good friend, but sometimes, unfortunately, people hear a name and it might turn them off," said Sen. Mike Fasano, a New Port Richey Republican who sponsored the change. "By naming the USF institute for Ronald Reagan, I truly believe the recognition it will get will be great."

The Senate Health Care Committee handed the institute another setback, revoking $15-million from its budget next year. The money instead would go to the Department of Health to provide grants for Alzheimer's research. The institute would have to compete for the money.

Melanie Meyer, the institute's chief of external affairs, said "nobody approached us" about changing the name.

"As far as we're concerned, the Legislature named us and we got down to the business of doing science," Meyer said. "If they want to rename us, my guys are going to keep doing what they do, which is the science of curing Alzheimer's."

Gov. Jeb Bush and the House have budgeted $15-million for the center.

Meyer said the Senate's unwillingness to fund the center was disappointing. She said "dedicated funding" is needed to attract world-class scientists.

Byrd, a Plant City lawyer, was speaker from 2002-2004 and ran as an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate last year, getting 6 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The Byrd name appears on the institute's Web site, letterhead, brochures and note pads. The February issue of HopeLines, the center's newsletter, features Byrd's picture and credits Reagan's "courageous" announcement of his battle with Alzheimer's as increasing public awareness of the disease.

Fasano's amendment was added to a biomedical research bill (SB 1872).

The bill also takes $9-million from Florida State University, appropriated for a defunct chiropractic school, shifting it to the Department of Health for cancer research grants.

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 01:27:20]