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Former Dunedin Commissioner Tom Osborne Dead

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: July 10, 2008

DUNEDIN – A vocal watchdog of city government and former city commissioner, Tom Osborne, died Thursday morning.

City Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski, who visited Osborne at Mease Dunedin Hospital yesterday, said Osborne was hospitalized about two weeks ago after suffering a seizure.

Osborne, 85, had been in ill health following a fall.

Before taking a turn for the worse, Osborne was on a ventilator because of a lung infection but was always in good spirits, Bujalski said.

Osborne served five years on the commission, starting in 1994. A fiscal conservative, Osborne was one of the most vocal supporters of the City Commission's 1995 decision to disband the Dunedin Police Department and contract for law enforcement services from the Pinellas Sheriff's Office.

After leaving office, he regularly attended commission meetings and offered advice on how the city could save taxpayers' money.

"He was an advocate for the residents and the king of citizen input" at commission meetings, said Bujalski, who considered Osborne a political mentor.

During her hospital visit Osborne joked about not being able to attend next week's budget meetings to make sure commissioners were doing their jobs to his standards, Bujalski said.

A retired attorney, the New Jersey native had lived in Dunedin since 1989. His wife passed away from cancer about two years ago.

Bujalski said Osborne did not want a funeral.

In recent days Dunedin has lost two past leaders. Former Mayor and City Commissioner Cecil Englebert, 81, died of cancer this past weekend. Known as "Mr. Baseball," Englebert was instrumental in wooing and keeping the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin for spring training.

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