Jesse Scheckner
Flags throughout Miami-Dade will be flown at half-staff to honor and mark the recent death of Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes.
Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the flags of the United States and Florida to be lowered at all local and state buildings, installations and grounds Wednesday from sunrise to sunset.
“Commissioner Reyes was a devoted public servant who spent his career committed to bettering the lives of the people in his community,” DeSantis said in a memo to Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, Miami-Dade County Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez and Brian Fienemann, Florida’s Director of Real Estate Development and Management.
“He was a teacher at Westland Hialeah Senior High School, the Principal Budget Analyst for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, and he served as Miami City Commissioner for District Four since 2017. Commissioner Reyes is survived by his wife of fifty-six years, his two children, and three grandchildren.”
Reyes, 80, died last week after being hospitalized. His family confirmed his death in a Friday statement that said, in part, that serving as a Miami Commissioner was his “great, lifelong dream fulfilled.”
He was born in Cuba and fled to the U.S. in 1959 after Fidel Castro took power, later earning a graduate degree in economics from the University of Florida.
He’d run for the City Commission six times between 1985 and 2017, when he finally won his District 4 seat. He secured a third term in November 2023 with an 86% share of the vote. In the final months of the race, he confirmed he had leukemia but announced less than six months later that it was in remission.
Last May, he announced plans to run for Mayor.
A memorial service celebrating Reyes’ life and legacy will be held Wednesday, beginning at City Hall and concluding with a funeral mass at St. Michael Church.
The City Commission’s remaining members are scheduled to meet Thursday to decide whether to appoint someone to serve out the remainder of Reyes’ four-year term or hold a Special Election to determine his successor.
