Family, Florida legislative figures past and present, and Florida State University stakeholders honored the life of John Thrasher Tuesday in an ceremony representing his lifetime of service to the Sunshine State.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush, Thrasher’s successor President Richard McCullough, and children and grandchildren were among those who eulogized the former Florida House Speaker and senator who died in May at the age of 81.
Inside the Ruby Diamond Concert Hall on FSU’s campus, Thrasher was recalled for his kindness, mercy, and gentleness.
“If you knew him, you loved him, and chances are he loved you right back,” Julie Weinberg, Thrasher’s daughter, said. “Looking around this room today, it’s clear how many people called him a friend.”
Thrasher’s wife of 60 years, Jean Thrasher, said she remembers him as a “sweet man.”
“He never gave up hope and he never complained, he gave us comfort when we all needed it most,” she said.
Thrasher died about a month after announcing a cancer diagnosis.
Record
Thrasher was president of FSU from 2014 through 2021, the culmination of a lengthy legislative career that began with him lobbying for the Florida Medical Association and eventually led him to serve in both chambers of the Florida Legislature.
He served in the Florida Senate, starting in 2009 and leaving in 2014, and in the Florida House for eight years, starting in 1992 and terming out in 2000. Thrasher was speaker of the chamber for his last two years.
Bush recalled the record of Florida’s government under Thrasher’s speakership, during the first two of Bush’s eight years in office. Thrasher’s policies, Bush said, “became the building block for a generation of conservative governance.”
“We now live in a world where owning the other side through social media, going on cable news is the way that you measure your sense of accomplishment. You know what? I thank God I got to work with John Thrasher in an era where getting stuff done mattered a lot more than virtue signaling,” Bush said to a round of applause.
Bush called Thrasher the “godfather” of FSU’s medical school, the establishment of which was a priority for the former speaker.
“For a guy who as successful at everything he did,” Bush said, listing all Thrasher’s titles, “John Thrasher had one of the smallest egos — not just among politicians, which are known for ego, but out of everyone. He always deflected praise and shared the credit for success.” Bush called him the “epitome of a servant leader.”
“When things didn’t go according to plan, he took the blame, even if it wasn’t his fault,” Bush said.
The service was led by David Swanson, pastor of First Presbyterian church of Orlando. It featured musical performances from an FSU choral ensemble and the FSU hymn by the school’s marching band.
FSU
Thrasher was a double alumnus of the school he led, earning his bachelor’s and law degrees from FSU. In between the two degrees, he served in the U.S. Army and received two Bronze Stars for his service in Vietnam and the Army Commendation Medal in Germany.
Thrasher co-founded The Southern Group, a lobbying firm, too.
He served on the faculty of the FSU College of Law. In 2010 and 2011 he was chair of the Republican Party of Florida.
“John made sure that every student that came to Florida State University had a chance to succeed,” McCullough said.
Ed Burr, who served on the FSU Board of Trustees during much of Thrasher’s tenure, recalled the impressiveness of Thrasher’s responses to the 2014 shooting at Strozier Library shortly after he became president, the death of a fraternity brother after a hazing incident in 2017, and an off-campus shooting that killed a student in 2018.
“I remember when I came here, I had many people, but the ones that really got [to me] were the students telling me that I had very large shoes to fill, and indeed, I had very large shoes to fill,” McCullough said.
Speakers echoed that Thrasher often credited his successes to God, wife Jean, and FSU, in that order.
“His schedule never kept [him] from stopping to engage others — student, faculty member, legislator, or a groundskeeper,” Kyle Clark, FSU’s senior vice president for finance and administration said.
“He treated everyone with the same respect, dignity, and kindness. He believed in listening and finding common ground and in making sure every person, whether they agreed with him or not, left the conversation knowing that they mattered and that they were heard.”
–Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
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