Longtime Daily Business Review vice president Sookie Williams, who retired four years ago after 42 years with the organization, died Wednesday night time in her sleep. She became one hundred and one. After spending 34 years as VP of legal for Miami-Dade, Williams turned into a confidante of judges, lawyers, financiers, and actual property agents. Her profession tracked the boom of the South Florida prison and real property change book as well as the area itself after transferring to Miami in 1946 as a widowed mother. A tireless networker who politely pulled human beings aside for quiet chats to share confidences, she promoted the DBR throughout the legal network and served as a liaison to the judiciary, courtroom administrators and bar associations. Williams additionally turned into a booster for women in regulation and a mentor to girl judges and attorneys, helping located the Florida Association for Women Lawyers. She also served as a skills spotter inside the criminal profession, pushing the late Colson Hicks Eidson partner Ervin Gonzalez to pursue bar management roles. Despite her lay popularity, she changed into a recipient of a prized Legal Legend award in 2011 from the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Historical Society. The Dade County Bar Association additionally named a network carrier award in her honor to recognize exemplary carrier to the prison network. Former DBR writer Chris Mobley labored with Williams for 14 years and recalled getting to know an awful lot from her.
“Sookie turned into now not afraid to speak truth — her truth — to electricity,” Mobley stated in an interview when she retired. “We didn’t always see eye to eye. But I soon found out to trust her understanding. Williams loved attending criminal functions where the calories could upload up speedy. Asked years ago what her mystery was for retaining weight off, she counts number-of-factly answered, “I eat small portions.” The banquet ordinary skipped proffered cakes and desired a dinner roll instead, regularly for the ride domestic. Williams kept many nights free for ballroom dancing and was a fave dance companion of the overdue U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Palermo. In that vein, she favored heels to residences into her 90s. She additionally stayed in shape with pilates. Before becoming a member of the DBR at the request of then-proprietor Lee Ruwitch, she worked a string of jobs along with secretary, waitress on the mythical Wolfie’s Deli, grocery store supervisor and bookkeeper for a Lincoln Road dress shop. Services were deliberate for Monday. However, information has been incomplete through the closing date. SHARE ON FACEBOOK