Former Lakeland mayor Buddy Fletcher dies

LAKELAND — Former Lakeland Mayor Ralph “Buddy” Fletcher died Tuesday at Lakeland Regional Medical Center. He was 84.

Contacted at his Lakeland home Tuesday evening, Fletcher's wife, Marguerite “Weetsie” Fletcher, confirmed he died sometime between 1 and 2 p.m.

Born in Polk County on Aug. 20, 1932, he served as Lakeland’s mayor from 1993 until 2010 and was succeeded in office by Mayor Gow Fields.

Tuesday night, Weetsie Fletcher said she was with him when he died, along with daughter Ellen Huey and her husband, Bill, family friend Dave Curry and Gene Wells, a pastor at Lakeland's First Baptist Church.

Weetsie Fletcher said her husband developed dementia in 2012, and he was taken to the medical center because of a stroke May 1. He died of problems associated with that stroke.

Buddy and Weetsie would have been married 66 years Aug. 16.

"He was well-loved and the community grew for the better for the work he did while he was in office," she said.

Michael Hailey, senior pastor of New Day Church in Brandon, first met Fletcher when he moved to Lakeland in 1988 to pastor Lakeland's First Baptist Church. He said Fletcher and Weetsie, were two of the first people he befriended, and he spent a lot of free time with Fletcher on his days off, having breakfast or lunch together.

Hailey said Fletcher was always an “encourager” and succumbed to cancer. One of his sons, Phillip, died of cancer in 2008.

“He always saw the positive side of people and lifted them up. He knew how to lift your spirits when they needed lifting,” he said.

Fletcher first served as a Lakeland city commissioner in 1988 and as mayor from 1993 to 2010. During his election run, he was known for his campaign signs that read “Who’s Your Buddy?” Known for a down-home charm, Fletcher called downtown Lakeland the city’s “living room,” and in order to make the city presentable, it was necessary to make the living room pretty.

In 2014, Fletcher sold his printing business, Fletcher Printing, which he started in his garage in 1958, and focused more on politics.

Fletcher won election to the Lakeland City Commission in 1988, the same year Frank O’Reilly became Lakeland’s first elected mayor after decades of appointed leaders. In 1992, O’Reilly left the job to make an unsuccessful run for Congress; Fletcher became mayor without opposition.

Fletcher defeated O’Reilly to win re-election in 1996, won without opposition in 2000 and easily defeated two challengers in 2005.

Fletcher was noted for three main areas in which Lakeland has improved during his tenure: economic development, beautification and the restoration of parks.

One of Fletcher’s big economic challenges was working to fill downtown voids created when J.C. Penney and Burdines left for Lakeland Square Mall on the north side of town. The city eventually took ownership of the downtown spaces, and Fletcher said he supported a deal to give the buildings to Publix Super Markets and Watkins Motor Lines in exchange for promises of job creation.

Fletcher also championed the building of Publix headquarters in West Lakeland and the development of Lakeside Village, an open-air shopping center that opened in 2005.

Current Lakeland Mayor Howard Wiggs said he felt the city had lost “the greatest mayor Lakeland ever had.”

“He set an example I’ve always tried to follow during my mayorship. I’ve never known anyone that was a greater ambassador for Lakeland,” said Wiggs, in his 25th year in Lakeland governmental service. “He was a godly man and friend to everyone. He was the kind of person I’ve aspired to be.”

Paul Catala can be reached at paul.catala@theledger.com or 863-802-7533. He can be reached at Twitter @pcat0226. Archive information from Ledger reporter Gary White was used in this report.