Charles “Mac” McElyea, a former city commissioner in Dania Beach who served several stints as mayor, died Wednesday. He was 87.
McElyea, the owner of Mac’s Towing, served about 15 years as a commissioner, from 1985-1993 and from 1999 to 2006, when he resigned his seat to run for School Board.
His resume included serving at the Dania Chamber of Commerce and Dania Historical Society.
“He is the city of Dania,” said his daughter-in-law Debbie McElyea. “His love of Dania was everything — the streets to the trees to everything. He had an interest to the entire city growing and being prosperous.
“He was well known in the city. If you were down and out, they always called him. He has done things from giving people refrigerators and stoves and having our employees install these things, we’ve bought groceries, and he has never asked for anything in return. He would buy these things out of his own pocket.”
Born in Hollywood and raised in Dania Beach, McElyea graduated from South Broward High School in 1951. After graduation he served in the Army during the Korean War and sent overseas, according to his daughter-in-law. He started a business with one tow truck in 1957 and Mac’s Towing grew to 30 trucks and a fleet of employees.
McElyea’s daughter Wendy Shaver, of Davie, said he was a strict but loving father whose motto to doing well in life was, “No was never an answer.”
“If you think you can do it, you do it,” she said. “He was hard but he had a soft spot for the underdog. But if you were able, he wanted you to do it yourself.”
Mac’s Way, a street in front of City Hall, was named after him.
“Let me tell you something, Mac is an icon,” said Commissioner Chickie Brandimarte, McElyea’s friend for more than 20 years. “He would be the first one to say ‘I’ll do that, I’ll give to that.’ This man had a heart of gold. He never showed he had money, he was like the rest of us.”
“He knew more stories from back in the old days,” she said, from the time the city had plentiful tomato fields and vegetable fields.
“I feel sorry for people who didn’t get to know him.”
McElyea’s time in public office was not drama- free.
In 1992 he was suspended by then Gov. Lawton Chiles after he was charged with two counts of aggravated battery after shooting two teenagers who broke into his auto storage yard. Neither teen was seriously injured. The governor reinstated McElyea in 1993 after his acquittal.
In addition to his daughter, McElyea is survived by a son, Thomas McElyea, of Dania Beach; two daughters, Cari Kresa, of Holly Hill; seven grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.
Visitation will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Landmark Funeral Home, 4200 Hollywood Blvd. in Hollywood.
McElyea will be transported to the funeral on one of his tow truck flatbeds, and one of the original trucks he bought in the 1950s will follow in the procession, according to the family.
lhuriash@sunsentinel.com, 954-572-2008 or Twitter @LisaHuriash