Former school board member and Dillard principal Benjamin Williams, ‘Mr. Fantastic,’ dies

Benjamin J. Williams, a former school principal and Broward County School Board member who was known by the moniker “Mr. Fantastic,” died earlier this month at 87.

Williams touched thousands of young lives in Broward County through his work in the public schools. He died Dec. 9 in Bartow, Fla., his birthplace. During his career in Broward County, he lived in Lauderhill.

Williams was a beloved educator who was at the forefront of Broward schools’ racial integration in the mid-1960s. He also helped design and implement the first magnet school programs in the district.

He earned the nickname Mr. Fantastic for his frequent use of that adjective.

Lamenting his death, schools activist Latrisha Greaves on Facebook called Williams a “force to be reckon[ed] with,” and “a true and genuine servant/community leader.”

Ruth Carter-Lynch, who ran unsuccessfully for school board this year, said she remembers him as “Mr. Education.”

“Mr. Williams exemplified Class and Character, an old school educator who cared about all students. He left a great legacy,” she wrote on Facebook.

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Williams started his career here as a teacher at Dillard Elementary in 1955. Over the years, he served as principal of Walker Elementary, Parkway Middle, Nova Blanche Forman Elementary and Dillard High schools.

He retired from the district in 1994 and later served three terms on the Broward County School Board, from 2000-12.

State Sen. Rosalind Osgood, a Democrat from Fort Lauderdale who years ago succeeded Williams on the school board, said his life shows the worth of education. He started school early, at age 4, and was a freshman at Florida A&M University at 15. He went on to earn his master’s degree from Indiana University.

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Williams was a member of New Mount Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale for more than 55 years. Osgood, an associate minister there, remembered him as “a spiritual man.”

“I grew up in New Mount Olive Baptist Church. Mr. Williams was in church almost every Sunday,” she said in an email to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “He was our Church Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee for over 20 years.”

She said he also was a family man — a “fabulous Honey Do to his wife” of 64 years, Rebecca “Becky” Williams.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a niece he raised as a daughter, as well as numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends.