Tamarac Historical Society Welcomes Cecil L. Beach!

The Tamarac Historical Society welcomed their first ever guest speaker, Cecil L. Beach, on July 13, 2010 at Tamarac City Hall.

In Broward County, Cecil Beach is best known for his work with the Broward County Library System which began in 1977 when County Administrator Lex Hestor hired him to take the job as Director of the newly created County Library. His task was to pull the System together, gain the support of the Cities, plan and institute a building program, build a collection, hire a competent staff, prepare and defend adequate budgets for operation and plan for the future. Over the next twelve years he went about achieving those goals. A world class Main Library designed by the Marcel Breuer firm was erected along with 17 branches. A professional and support staff second to none was assembled. Special appropriations enabled the collection to grow past one million volumes, and the Broward Library System was well on its way to becoming one of the best and largest public library systems in the country. In 1989 he was promoted to the position of Public Services Department Director, supervising 9 County Divisions.

Previously, Cecil had served as State Librarian of FIorida; As Director of the Tampa, Hillsborough County Library System, Director of the Gadsden Alabama Public Library, and as Director of the Piedmont Regional Library in Georgia.

In 1992 he retired from Broward County as Director of the County's Public
Services Department where he supervised 9 county divisions including Libraries, Parks, Mass Transit, Housing, Social Services, Agriculture, Consumer Services, Community Development, and Cultural Affairs. Subsequently he has been visiting professor at FSU and at USF while continuing to do consulting. In 1999 Broward hired him as Bond Project Co-coordinator for the $140,000,000 Bond Issue passed to build new libraries in the county.

CLICK HERE to view a Slide Show of pictures from the event.*

*If you are unable to use the link above to view the slide show, try going directly to the Slide.com website.

NOTE: All photos are copyrighted. No photo, or portion of a photo, may be reproduced in any form without the express written consent of the City of Tamarac, Florida.