To illustrate his father’s drive and determination, Tony tells a story of working with his father on a construction site for a three-story apartment building. They were setting roof trusses and Tony’s dad rigged a system by which the trusses were winched up the wall to be set in place with Tony on the front wall and his dad on the back wall. At one point Tony realized that his father was no longer there - he had fallen, possibly three stories down to the ground. When Tony made his way over to where his father had been standing on the back wall, he saw that his father had fallen inside the building, down to the third floor. Tony asked him if he was alright and his dad simply climbed back into place and told him to get back to the front wall to catch the next truss. That was Tony’s role model, and that was the kind of focus Tony learned.

After high school, Tony attended Thomas More College in Northern Kentucky. Following graduation he began a long career in local government, beginning with duties including criminal justice planning and law enforcement training development. A few years later he attended the University of Cincinnati where he earned a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs.

Tony met his future wife, Joyce one evening while showing some new office employees around downtown Cincinnati. They’ve been married 41 years now, with two children (Kevin and Dave), a daughter-in-law (Nicole), and two grandchildren (Aystun and Fisher). Joyce is a UCF graduate and a CPA with her own business for 30 years.

In 1985, Tony and Joyce moved to Florida where he stepped up his public service career by becoming the City Manager of Tavares. In 1996 he became City Manager of Leesburg, and in 2001 he took charge in Lake Wales. In 2010, Tony came to New Smyrna Beach where he served as a Department Head in the city government. He retired in 2020 from his position as Redevelopment & Economic Development Director. All that may explain why he has an abiding interest in the importance of revitalizing downtown areas – something he helped accomplish in the Canal Street and Flagler Avenue areas of New Smyrna Beach.

You may have attended one of Tony’s special interest presentations at Coronado. He presented one last year on jazz music, sharing his appreciation of that unique musical style in an easy-to-understand way.

More recently Tony shared his thoughts about “why we love sports”. His major sports interests today are Hockey (Lightning and Panthers) and Basketball (Magic, Heat, and Cavs). Tony claims his love of sports comes mainly from his grandfather who was a minor league baseball player in his earlier years and had met players from the legendary 1927 Yankees baseball team - even shaking hands with Babe Ruth.

Tony says that the thing that makes him happiest is his family. He shared a story of how his love of sports and family came together once when his son Dave was participating in a high school swim meet in Lake Wales. Tony was there, keeping an eye on the big screen monitor as Dave swam in a breaststroke competition. Tony was cheering loudly and at the finish Dave had won the race. Nearby fans asked, “Is that your son? Is that your son?”

Tony and Joyce came to Coronado UMC shortly after coming to New Smyrna Beach. He met former pastor Bob Brown while negotiating a parking lease on behalf of the City Commission. He and Joyce have been members for 15 years now. Joyce was very involved in church matters from the beginning, especially finance. Tony got much more involved following his retirement in 2020. He has been a Vision Committee member and chairperson, has led ‘Lunch and Learn’ presentations, participated in the Open Minds book club, and initiated the Inter-Faith annual dinner.

Tony believes that all faith communities should stand up as the conscience of our country and work for justice. His future goals here at Coronado UMC include participating in the new Justice Ministry Team. He shares one of his favorite quotes to illustrate his strongly-held priority: “You are unique, just like everybody else.”