North Port loses an icon as Gene Matthews passes at age 87

NORTH PORT – When Gene Matthews arrived in North Port in 1972 with his wife Lorraine and their three children, Debbie, Diane and Steve, it was a community of about 1,200 people and little else.

He was instrumental in helping to start everything from the North Port Little League to the Chamber of Commerce and the city’s first newspaper. He also hosted a TV program.

Matthews, who was named “Mr. North Port" by the City Commission on July 14, 2008 and given a key to the city by the commission in April, died Aug. 3 at age 87.

The family was scheduled to meet Friday with Farley Funeral Homes and Crematory for arrangements. Services will be at noon, Aug 12 at San Pedro Catholic Church in North Port.

In a life highlighted by public service, Matthews served on the Sarasota County Commission from 1993 to 1996 and the Sarasota County School Board a decade prior to that.

Among his many honors, Matthews – who founded an independent Allstate Insurance branch in 1982 – was named North Port “Business Man of the Year” in 1992.

He also received the “Clyde Nixon Business Leadership Award," from the Economic Development Corporation of Sarasota County in 2016.

The Gene Matthews Boys & Girls Club was named after him in 1997. A new $4.5 million, 14,000-square-foot expansion was unveiled on April 11, when Gene and Lorraine Matthews received the key to the city.

‘This man did it all…’

“We can all name all the things he did but he was a real person,” said former City Commissioner Joan Morgan. Morgan and her husband Ed met Gene and Lorraine Matthews in 1972.

“This man did it all, he was it all,” she later added. “At one point if you wanted to have a vote and say: “Forget North Port, let’s call this Matthews City,’ we would all have voted for it.”

Back in the 1970s, parents like the Matthews and Morgans were instrumental in starting recreational leagues for their children.

“In those days we had to do it,” Morgan said.

Students were bussed to either Venice or Englewood for classes.

“Most of all when I remember Gene, it was from the early days when we would have all these meetings about schools and no one would listen to us because we didn’t have the numbers,” Morgan said.

Glenallen Elementary School finally opened in 1984, during the early part of Matthews’ tenure on the School Board.

He identified the land for the North Port High School campus, which opened in 2001.

Former City Commissioner Vanessa Carusone met Matthews when she graduated from Venice High School and he handed out diplomas.

They later worked together on the advisory board that helped screen principal candidates for North Port High and he was one of her earliest political supporters.

Carusone said that in her lasting memories, “Gene is always smiling, always happy, never a cross word.

“He was also the silent type,” she added “He would do a lot but he didn’t need or want the credit.

“He truly was one of the greatest people who started the city up.”

City Commissioner Pene Emrich, who knew Matthews for more than two decades, said he “gave himself relentlessly to the city.

“He loved the city; he was one of the first individuals who just really really cared and kept doing it for his life.”

A sense of kindness

Steve Matthews said that sense of kindness remained with his father, even as his health failed.

“Even in the past couple months when he was struggling it was amazing to see his grace with the nurses who were helping him as when he was in and out of rehab, always thanking them,” he said.

Matthews' impact on the city will likely live on through the youth services offered at the Gene Matthews Boys & Girls Club at 6851 S. Biscayne Drive.

“He was tenacious when he wanted something and he wanted something better for children of North Port," said Bill Sadlo, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties. “It was named after him for his tenacity and not saying ‘no’ for the children of North Port.

“Thousands of children have been helped and supported … we would say his legacy would live on for thousands more,” he added.

That fits well with Steve Matthews’ lasting memory of his father.

“He’s pretty selfless; he’s always trying to do for others,” Matthews said. “He was a quiet and reserved person but at the same point was fighting for things he believed in.

“He loved North Port – he loved this town and he did what he could to help this town grow.”

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Iconic North Port resident Gene Matthews dies at age 87