Susan Whelchel, former Boca Raton mayor, former educator and School Board member and dedicated church leader and volunteer, died Friday at age 77 after battling Alzheimer’s disease.
Whelchel’s long list of accomplishments in Boca Raton included serving multiple terms on the city council beginning in 1995, being appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush to a two-year term on the Palm Beach County School Board, helping found a nonprofit and serving as Boca mayor from 2008 to 2014.
Gov. Ron DeSantis directed that flags at the Capitol in Tallahassee, the Palm Beach County Courthouse and Boca Raton City Hall be flown at half-staff Thursday in her honor. Her funeral will be held at 4 p.m. at Grace Community Church, where she was a longtime member.
“We had the same agenda, the same general vision for the community. So we just were two peas in a pod,” said Steven Abrams, former Boca Raton mayor from 2001 to 2008 and Palm Beach County commissioner from 2009 through 2018.
Whelchel was known for her “candor,” her passion for education and philanthropy and her dedication to making Boca Raton the kind of place where people of all ages want to live and raise their families, Abrams said.
“Susan would tell it like it is. She would not mince any words with you. She would say what’s on her mind,” he said.
Abrams said his collaboration with Whelchel began when she first ran for a seat on the council in 1995. He, at that time, had been a council member since 1989. The two later worked together over the years while she served on the School Board and he as mayor and continued while Whelchel was mayor and Abrams sat on the county commission.
Abrams appointed Whelchel to serve on the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University board in 2015. She stepped down from that role in 2019.
“This next generation of our kids and our grandkids … She wanted to create a community where they would stay here. And that meant promoting good educational and job opportunities, and that’s what she went about doing with great success,” Abrams said.
Whelchel was “singlehandedly responsible” for establishing Don Estridge High Tech Middle School, a magnet school in Boca Raton, Abrams said. And nonprofits were what she considered one of the community’s greatest aspects.
Alana St. John, director of programs at the nonprofit Spirit of Giving, said Whelchel was one of the founding members of the organization. The idea started from founder Barbara Schmidt’s holiday parties — her guests would bring hundreds of toys for children. But they weren’t sure what organizations needed them.
“So Barb got a group of these amazing ladies in Royal Palm Yacht Club, Susan being one of them,” St. John said. Whelchel helped lay the groundwork for nonprofits collaborating in the community.
“Her family, they’re such a wonderful legacy of Whelchels in this community,” she said.
Mayor Scott Singer said Whelchel’s passion for helping grow Boca Raton into a place for families and young professionals inspired him.
“She gave me a wealth of advice, guidance and mentorship, and on a few occasions where we disagreed, she was not shy in telling me her thoughts,” Singer said. “But at all points, and probably more so at those few times, her insights helped me see a broader perspective.”
She is survived by her husband John; her daughter Joanne Jackson and her husband Tracey; her son Jay Whelchel and his wife Melissa; her son Matthew Whelchel and his wife Kimmie; her daughter Kristy Hartofilis and her husband Nick; her grandchildren Haley, Davis, Makayla, Mary, Jack, Maddie, Caroline, Vivi, Nick and Mira; along with 10 nieces and nephews.
Whelchel graduated from Jacksonville University with a degree in political science after she graduated from high school in Starke. She taught for 30 years, part of the time at Boca Raton High School, an online obituary says.
She also served as a leader at Grace Community Church, Pastor Jason Whitener said.
“She came a couple of months ago even on a Sunday morning with her family. So cheerful and supportive and just a strong foundation in our church,” he said. “Just like she was in the community. She was a woman of impact and influence. She used the life that God gave her to make a difference.”
