LONGBOAT
Observer Longboat Key’s weekly newspaper since 1978
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
VOLUME 38, NO. 5
FREE
ARTS+CULTURE
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Conversation with Armando Linde
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
1924-2015
Hal Lenobel A LONGBOAT LEGEND
Fuzión Dance Artists celebrates 10 years of modern dance.
Hal Lenobel scored 12-and-a-half years on the commission and 13 holes in one on the golf course.
INSIDE
YOUR TOWN
Courtesy
Mike Bryan, Bethany SaputoDugger, Denise Saputo and Bob Bryan
GOLD COAST DISTRIBUTING FAMILY MEETS ITS MATCH Owning one of the region’s largest beer distribution companies has its perks. Last year, John Saputo, founder of Gold Coast Eagle Distributing, bought Ohiobased Dickerson Distributing, which sponsored the Western & Southern Tennis Open from Aug. 15 to Aug. 23, in Cincinnati. The tournament is a qualifier to the U.S. Open. “Everybody was there,” Saputo said. “You name a tennis star, they were there. It was unbelievable.” Sponsors had the opportunity to participate in tennis clinics, and Saputo’s wife, Denise Saputo, and daughter, Bethany SaputoDugger, received one-onone lessons with tennis stars Mike and Bob Bryan. “I was extremely surprised how grounded they all are and how focused they are on their sport,” Saputo said.
Hal Lenobel served as Longboat Key Town Commissioner from 1997 to 2005 and from 2008 to 2012.
ROBIN HARTILL AND KURT SCHULTHEIS OBSERVER STAFF
H
al Lenobel spent his career as a dentist having one-way conversations with patients as he drilled away in their mouths. But in his retirement years, he realized he had missed out on actually conversing with people. In his second career — his unpaid 12-and-a-half years on the Longboat Key Town Commission — he developed a reputation as a consensus-builder who didn’t always speak but never failed to listen to all sides before making a decision. “When he finally would speak, everyone would listen, and he would hit the problem right on its head and have a solution for it,” said Michael Welly, former general manager of the Longboat Key Club and Resort. He met Lenobel shortly after he was hired in 2004, when Lenobel gave him a
tour of the Key Club’s golf courses because he wanted to be sure Welly had his priorities straight. “He loved to be a healer, and he found that he could make his mark on humanity more in the business world than in the medical world,” said Lenobel’s son, Jeffrey Lenobel. Lenobel, who served as mayor three times during his commission tenure, died Sunday. He was 91. His 12-and-a-half years on the commission constitute a record topped only by Howard Ridyard’s 23 years on the dais. His 13 holes in one on the golf course likely add up to a Florida amateur record and earned him the nickname “Holein-One Hal.” He spent his career working six days a week, traveling between his offices in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Long Island, N.Y., before retiring to live full time on Longboat Key in 1993.
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File photos
Hal Lenobel, right, with his wife, Hazel
“When he finally would speak, everyone would listen, and he would hit the problem right on its head and have a solution for it.” – Michael Welly, former general manager of the Longboat Key Club and Resort