Award-winning Ledger photographer, fishing columnist Michael Wilson of Lakeland dies at 61

Louis “Skip” Perez, longtime executive editor of The Ledger, learned over the years not to describe Michael “Mookie” Wilson as a photographer.

“He never hesitated to correct me when I called him a photographer,” Perez said. “He said he was a news photographer and also a journalist. He was really proud of that, to say, ‘I'm a journalist, too. I'm not just a photographer.’”

Wilson spent nearly three decades as a photojournalist with The Ledger and later established himself as a chronicler of Florida’s fishing scene. He died Sunday at age 61 following a short illness.

Wilson spent the first decade of his life in New Jersey before moving with his family to the Fort Lauderdale area in the early 1970s, said his cousin, Tom Donnelly. He attended Broward Community College before venturing to Gainesville, where he studied journalism, earning a degree in 1987.

A fan of the New York Mets, he adopted his nickname in the 1980s from the Mets outfielder William “Mookie” Wilson.

Wilson joined The Ledger in January 1988, hired to work in the newspaper’s Winter Haven bureau. He shifted to the Lakeland newsroom within about two years but continued living in Winter Haven for a few more years, Donnelly said.

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In those days, The Ledger had a staff of about 10 photographers, whose duties ranged from crime and courts coverage and feature assignments to covering home games of the Florida Gators’ football team and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Former Ledger photo director Calvin Knight described Wilson as “a workhorse,” saying he would not complain about a heavy load of assignments.

“Mookie liked chasing news,” Knight said. “He made friends with a lot of cops. He was a good news hound. There are certain events you send people to because they excel in it. We sent Mookie to courts and to news a lot because that's the thing he did best.”

Wilson also proved adept at covering high school sports, familiarizing himself with the coaches and prominent players, Knight said. He developed contacts and often shot Detroit Tigers spring training games in Lakeland after the photographers from the Detroit newspapers had departed.

One milestone of Wilson’s journalism career came in 2010, when he was assigned to cover the trial of Leon Davis Jr., a man accused of killing five people over a horrific, weeklong spree in Polk County. As Wilson watched with his camera, the mother of a murder victim shouted at Davis and hurled her purse toward him, while her husband climbed a courtroom railing and lunged toward the defendant.

Wilson captured images of a bailiff clutching the husband while another pointed the wife toward the courtroom door, his mouth open as he issued a command to leave. The photo earned Wilson the Joseph Costa Award for Courtroom Photography from Ball State University's Department of Journalism.

Wilson enthusiastically embraced such recurrent assignments as the annual roundup of swans on Lakeland’s downtown lakes for medical exams. Another photographer captured him in 2014, perched in a speeding motorboat as Steve Platt, the “Swanfather” of the Lakeland’s Parks and Recreation Department, reached with a net for a mute swan.

“He was particularly proud of the Fourth of July pictures he took during the celebration downtown,” Perez said. “He knew those would always be played big in print, on the front. He was always looking for different ways to shoot the same old, same old every year.”

'A good guy to deal with everyman'

Knight said that Wilson had a knack for developing a rapport with the subjects of his photo assignments.

“Mookie was the photographer who was a good guy to deal with everyman,” Knight said. “I could send Mookie to the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars), and before he left they’d buy him a drink.”

Perez said Wilson’s journalism school background showed in the attention he devoted to spelling and grammar in his photo captions.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd became well acquainted with Wilson, who often covered the agency’s operations.

“He was not only a professional, he was a really good guy,” Judd said. “We worked in a lot of different, tragic circumstances, and even though, obviously, you'd have to remain professional in your duties, there were many times when the tragedy that he was covering as a photojournalist really affected him personally. I got to see the softer side of him there.”

After being laid off from The Ledger in 2016, Wilson continued contributing to the newspaper through a weekly fishing report that covered saltwater, freshwater and fishing tournaments. Wilson developed a zeal for fishing as a youngster in South Florida, Donnelly said. Initially a freshwater angler, he later shifted his passion to saltwater fishing.

Not owning a boat, Wilson specialized in what he called “guerilla fishing,” casting his line from bridges, shorelines and rockpiles in search of trout, redfish and, above all, snook. His Facebook profile photo showed him grinning while holding a freshly caught snook, and his vehicle bore the specialty license plate for the Indian River Lagoon, a depiction of the same fish.

Perez said that Wilson regularly called him every two months or so to chat, and the conversation often turned to fishing.

“We would trade stories, and his were always better than mine when it came to fishing,” Perez said. “He was much more skilled, but he never had a problem sharing with me the latest tackle and what was working for him.”

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He added: “Sometimes fishermen are reluctant to give their spots and tips about things, but he was always very generous in telling me and helped me learn how to be a better fisherman, for sure.”

Wilson energetically pursued opportunities as a freelance photographer, shooting for The Ledger and other Florida newspapers and outlets. His pace never slowed, even though the effects of a cataract operation caused him to lose vision in one eye, Knight said.

In recent years, Wilson supplemented his income by taking photos and recording videos for law firms and real-estate companies. Florida Rep. Melony Bell, R-Fort Meade, had enlisted him to document her campaign for Polk County Supervisor of Elections.

A man about town

Whippet-thin throughout his life, Wilson grew a beard early in his career with The Ledger to complement his curly hair, originally dark before going gray. In his later years, Wilson was almost invariably seen in his unofficial uniform of cargo pants, a quick-dry fishing shirt and a visor, often one promoting a fishing-lure company.

Wilson spoke in a buzzy, rapid-fire streak, and his intense personality prompted friends to describe him as “a character.” Judd, whose avocation is nature photography, recalled once visiting Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland with Wilson, whose ceaseless chatter caused him to miss a flight shot of a roseate spoonbill. Having captured an image himself, Judd advised Wilson that he might do better if he talked less and shot more.

The photojournalist displayed his writing talents in Facebook dispatches on a neighborhood cat he described as "Formally Feral, Rotten Little Chippy," a Siamese with a notched left ear. Written from the cat’s perspective, the posts typically expressed annoyance at the bothersome human with the “clicking black box,” or camera.

Wilson also supplied regular updates on “Vincent Van Squirrel,” so named for its missing left ear. A Facebook video from August showed the squirrel eating nuts from a metal bowl in Wilson’s hand.

Wilson lived for more than two decades in the South Lake Morton Historic District, near Florida Southern College. He was a familiar presence at such locales as Fat Jack’s Deli & Pub, Tuckers’ Southside Package and Lounge and Molly McHugh’s Irish Pub.

“He loved living in downtown Lakeland, being close to downtown, being able to hoof it around by foot,” Donnelly said. “He liked having that interaction.”

Wilson was not married and had no children. He outlived his parents, and his older brother died a few years earlier, Donnelly said. The cousin and his two sisters, who live out of state, came to Lakeland to be with Wilson in his final days.

Donnelly said the family did not expect to hold a formal service for Wilson. Friends and former Ledger colleagues planned to organize a celebration of life, though a date has not yet been set.

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Longtime Ledger photographer, fishing expert Michael Wilson dies at 61