A BEACON OF LIGHT Miguel C. Fernandez III
By Chuck Myron
“On March 21, 2018, we lost an amazing member, friend and past president of the LCBA. Miguel was a kind gentle soul. He was a genuine person who cared about the LCBA and our mission. You could always count on Miguel for advice and support. He was an outstanding person and he will be greatly missed.”
~ LCBA Executive Director Lisa Poulin
iguel C. Fernandez III just wouldn’t stop. M Doctors gave him months to live when he was
didn’t fear death, because he knew where he was going.” Fernandez was equally as cognizant of where he came from. His family fled Communist Cuba when he was just diagnosed with liver cancer. Three years later, he was 5 years old, but he never stopped loving his homeland. standing vibrantly at the dais in front of his fellow LCBA It was 39 years before he returned, arriving for a mission past presidents, delivering the benediction as he often trip on a 39-minute flight from Miami to Havana that sent would at those luncheons. tears raining down his cheeks as Acevedo consoled him. Everyone knew his case was terminal, but he had been Fernandez’s brother-in-law Ralph Heredia, a Puerto so full of life that most of us had let the grim prognosis Rican, recounted the playful yet merciless ribbing drift to the back of our minds. He was vivacious right up Fernandez would give him over their respective heritages. until he passed away on March 21, less than three weeks Puerto Rico stole the design and after the luncheon. colors of the Cuban flag, and salsa “He had an attitude of perseverance ...a man of was invented by Cubans and copied and a zest for life that was infectious,” genuine influence. by Puerto Ricans, Fernandez insisted. said Jorge Acevedo, his pastor. He persisted until you gave in and At the center of it all was his very realized he was right all along, Heredia said. public Christianity. It was plainly evident during a public Fernandez’s relentlessness paid dividends in the memorial service held on Good Friday at Grace Church courtroom, in his community and in his family. On on the Cape Coral-North Fort Myers line. Friends and top of having been LCBA president in 2005, he was family members spoke in tribute to “a man of genuine president of the Lee County Legal influence,” as Acevedo called him. Aid Society, chair of the 20th Fernandez’s mark was apparent in the Judicial Circuit Court Grievance tenor of the service, punctuated with Committee, a member of the Second salsa music that made it clear this District Court of Appeals Judicial was more of a celebration of life and Nominating Committee, and a faith than an expression of grief and member of the Florida Bar Diversity sorrow. & Inclusion Committee. He also “My dad loved the Lord,” daughter served on numerous state and local Mariah Washington said during the bar committees, including ceremony. “He trusted His plan. He was unwavering in his faith. My dad Photo left: Miguel as a young boy with his mother, sister and father.