Although the majority of Floridians knew the late Bill McBride solely from his unsuccessful 2002 race to unseat Jeb Bush as governor, there was just one brief mention of that campaign in a 95-minute funeral service that honored his life Friday afternoon in South Tampa.
Lexi McBride Crawford, McBride's 23-year-old daughter, mentioned the fact that her father made sure to come home every night along the campaign trail a decade ago, no matter the distance he had to travel. "Not only to sleep in his own bed, but to wake me up, tell me how much he loved me, and sincerely asked about the favorite part of my day."
Bill McBride died of a heart attack on Saturday, December 22, in Mount Airy, North Carolina. He was 67. Speakers honored him for his work as a lawyer, a war hero, a philanthropist, a leader and as an overall good man.
An overflow crowd filled not only the 542-seat sanctuary of the Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church for the service honoring McBride's life, but dozens of others had to stand in the 200-seat overflow area in the church fellowship hall as well to watch the ceremony.
The crowd included a who's who of local and state-wide politicians – both Democrats and Republicans – including state Senator Tom Lee, former Hillsborough County Commissioners Rose Ferlita and Pat Frank, former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman, St. Pete City Councilman Charlie Gerdes, Tampa City Councilwoman Mary Mulhern, Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg, and current Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater. Noted attorneys such as Barry Cohen, Ralph Fernandez and John Morgan were also in attendance, as was Tampa Republican political consultant Adam Goodman.
This article appears in Dec 27, 2012 – Jan 2, 2013.