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Paul Thorpe, the man who earned the nickname “Mr. Downtown” for his dedication to civic service and foundational role in several Sarasota institutions, died Aug. 24 at 91.
Thorpe was a central figure in the evolution of downtown Sarasota for nearly five decades. Earlier this year, the city renamed a park at Lemon and Pineapple avenues in his honor, and erected a plaque to reflect his legacy within the community.
“No one in the past half-century has been a champion of downtown Sarasota and contributed more to its successful revitalization and redevelopment than Paul N. Thorpe Jr.,” the plaque reads.
His work started soon after he moved to the area from Philadelphia in 1969. In 1974, he helped found the Downtown Association, a merchants group focused on livening up a then-dormant commercial district. That same year, he organized the first Downtown Sarasota Holiday Parade — an event he would lead into his late 80s.
Events like “Old Fashioned Days,” an antique car show Thorpe organized in the late 1970s, were designed to transform a sleepy downtown into a destination. He helped create lasting events including the Sarasota Farmers Market, the New Year's Eve pineapple drop and the Fourth of July fireworks at Bayfront Park.
He did more than just organize events, too. He was a resource for businesses opening downtown, a bedrock of professional expertise and institutional knowledge willing to help anyone, friends and colleagues say. He provided guidance as the city drafted master plans downtown and in the Rosemary District. He volunteered his time on advisory boards and offered his insights to city staff on multiple projects.
“He was an innovator,” says Barbara Strauss, a friend of Thorpe's who helped organize the first pineapple drop. “He was making this town change.”
As he focused on improving downtown, Thorpe's professional and personal lives became inseparable. He forged lifelong friendships with the people he worked alongside. In 2002, Thorpe helped place Paul Mattison in the space at Main Street and Lemon Avenue that Mattison's City Grille occupies. Ever since, Mattison says, Thorpe managed to turn a series of professional interactions into a meaningful, lasting personal relationship.
“It was just always a warm and fuzzy business relationship,” Mattison says. “It wasn't hardcore business. It was family, friendly business.”
Thorpe even met his wife, Jo Ann, at a downtown function.
She was new in town. He was the type of person who, upon learning that someone just moved to the area, immediately began evangelizing on behalf of the city.
“He was interesting,” Jo Ann Thorpe says. “When he started telling me all about Sarasota and why I was going to like it so much, I believed him, because he was so dedicated to what he was doing.”
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