Former Key West mayor 'Tony' Tarracino dies at 92
The Associated Press
KEY WEST, Fla. -- Anthony "Tony" Tarracino, a former mayor of Key West and legendary bar owner of "Captain Tony's Saloon" whose life was memorialized in a Jimmy Buffett song, has died, according to his wife. He was 92.
Tarracino died Saturday after being hospitalized for about a week with a heart and lung condition, said his wife of 38 years, Marty Tarracino. She and seven of his children were with him, sharing stories in his hospital room shortly before his death, she added.
"He loved Key West and everyone here," she said. "Oftentimes, I've heard him called the conscience of Key West."
He came to Key West from New Jersey in 1948 with $18 in his pocket. Ten years later he purchased a bar on Greene Street and changed its name to Captain Tony's Saloon.
Tarracino was a charter boat captain and raconteur fond of telling colorful stories about the era of the mercenaries of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, who opposed Fidel Castro's communist Cuban regime. He served as Key West's mayor from 1989 to 1991.
Captain Tony's colorful life included marrying four times and fathering 13 children.
His story was recounted in a film titled "The Cuba Crossing," starring Stewart Whitman as Tarracino and in a book called "Life Lessons of a Legend" that Tarracino did with Brad Manard.
Buffett, a longtime friend, sang about Tarracino's exploits in the song "Last Mango in Paris," from the 1985 album of the same name.
A service was scheduled Saturday morning followed by a reception for family and friends at Captain Tony's Saloon. Although the bar retains the "Captain Tony's" name, Tarracino sold it in 1989.
