Howard Forman, former state senator and Broward County clerk of court, dies at 77

Howard Forman, a former state senator and Broward County clerk of court, died Thursday, his daughter, Iris Forman, said. He was 77.

Forman wore several different hats during his time in South Florida. He was a fixture in Broward County politics for more than three decades, starting out as a Hallandale city commissioner in 1973 before he became a Broward County Commissioner.

A Democrat, he then went on to become a state senator, representing cities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties, before becoming the Broward County clerk of court in 2000.

Forman lived in South Florida for more than 70 years, moving to North Miami Beach around the age of 6, his daughter said.

He bought a home in Miramar in 1978, where Iris and her sister, Rosette Forman, Howard Forman’s other daughter, still live now.

Rosette has autism, Iris said, which inspired Howard Forman to become a pioneer in politics to create laws assisting people with special needs.

“He was always looking at what future generations and what the next generation would benefit from,” Iris Forman said.

Iris Forman recalls joining her father for long drives through the state, stopping at different landmarks where he would teach her about Florida’s history and environment.

“My dad was obsessed with our state,” she said. “He loved to see the future of his constituency and the future of the state.”

He cared about family, too, said Judy Stern, a political consultant and family friend to Howard Forman who knew him for much of his career.

He was “just a very gentle and compassionate man,” she said. “He was a fighter for what he believed was in the best interest for the rights of people and the rights to access.”

Forman was a supporter of stricter gun control laws and expanding human services specifically for the elderly, children and people with disabilities. Iris Forman said he also cared for environmental preservation.

During the 1991 legislative session, Howard Forman sponsored bills “implementing a three-day statewide wait for handgun purchases, setting up the Department of Elderly Affairs and revising the charitable solicitation law,” according to a ‘report card’ written about Forman in the Miami Herald.

“He continued to argue in vain for a new tax to give South Florida a greater share of the state’s mental health money,” the report reads. “He pushed a tax on commercial real estate transactions, sought by counties to pay for affordable housing. But the tax died in the session’s last hour when Forman failed to get a two-thirds vote to bring it to the Senate floor.”

“‘We’ll pass it next year,’ Forman said, reaching for his cigar.”

In 2008, the Sun Sentinel editorial board strongly recommended voters to reelect Forman for a third term as Broward County’s clerk of courts “as he continues efforts to make the office more consumer friendly.”

“Howard Forman is an experienced public official who has done a good job upgrading the technology in the Broward Clerk of the Courts office,” the editorial board wrote.

Iris Forman remembers her dad as someone who wasn’t afraid of technology, even though he himself was not quite technologically literate, she said.

“He knew that it was so critical, and he understood the importance of it, and he never shied away from it,” she said. “He wanted the courthouse to be digital when he got in office. … Even though he knew he couldn’t navigate it, that was the direction of the future.”

Forman’s wife of 26 years, Susan Joy Schwartzman Forman, died in 2011 from complications after she was diagnosed with pneumonia and a collapsed lung. She was a retired local Democratic activist, lobbyist and political consultant.

Howard Forman remarried in 2013.

Howard Forman’s ex-wife, Brenda Forman, works as the current Broward County Clerk of Courts. The pair ran against each other for the position in 2019 when Howard Forman was 73 and emerging from retirement.

“I feel very youthful at this point of my life,” Howard Forman said at the time. “I tried retirement, and it was interesting. I kept busy. That was my biggest challenge.”

Brenda and Howard Forman were married until 2018.

“During the time that he and I were married, we had a great marriage,” Brenda Forman said. “The community just knew who Howard Forman was, when he was in the Senate, he got on the floor and he fought for a lot of rights for those who are here in Broward County. So he will be remembered for doing what was good for the community, all of the community, regardless of who they were, where they came from or whatever their status may have been.”

In Pembroke Pines, where Forman lived for many years, the Senator Howard C. Forman Human Services Campus, which offers various services for children, families and seniors in southeast Florida, will bare Forman’s legacy for years to come.

“I see it every day when I drive, it’s my reminder every day that he’s going to be with our community,” Iris Forman said. “His mark on Broward County is indelible, it’s just permanent in the best way possible.”