Key West scrolled in shock on Dec. 30 through social media posts that seemed to suggest Michael Halpern had died. That couldn’t be true.
But it was. Halpern died the morning of Dec. 30 at age 72 during a battle with cancer. The skepticism on social media succumbed to sorrow and shared memories of the New York City native, who arrived in Key West in 1975 as a young public defender.
The influential attorney, behind-the-scenes power broker and affable owner at Southernmost Mansion and its Seaside Cafe, had just started chemotherapy treatments for cancer that was diagnosed only recently. Friends had just spoken with him days before.
“I’m in shock. I spoke with him about a week ago and we had joked about doing an ‘old man’s trip’ through Italy,” Halpern’s longtime friend Michael Browning said. It would have been reminiscent of a trip they’d taken twice before with their combined six kids and Halpern’s wife, Michelle, who lost her own battle with cancer in 2011. “When I first heard he was sick, he made it sound like no big deal. When we spoke again last week, he was in chemo so we only spoke for a minute, but again, he downplayed it completely.”
Halpern’s sons – Rafe, Alexi, Luke and their adopted brother Terry – had lost their mother, Michelle, after her devastating, decade-long battle with cancer in 2011. Following her diagnosis and during her battle, Halpern helped the boys launch their own nonprofit, Kids Fighting Cancer, which still raises money to help local cancer patients pay their bills while undergoing treatment. The organization’s annual Willy Wonka Chocolate Festival at the Southernmost Mansion has raised more than $100,000.
Now, 13 years after losing their mom, cancer had claimed their father faster than he could fight it.
And Michael Halpern wasn’t afraid of a fight. He was a formidable development attorney in Key West, where his and his clients’ plans for Key West’s properties and economy often didn’t align with those of city officials and residents.
He wasn’t always the most popular guy in the room, and he was fine with that. He often seemed to relish the tension that was palpable between him and city commissioners. He would smile politely as he strode to the podium, his faded T-shirt and running shorts belying the depth of his knowledge of city laws and loopholes and his lawyering skills. Halpern was committed to his powerful clients, but also to the Key West community, and especially the powerless residents in it.
Halpern helped in more ways than anyone ever knew. And he got results.
After a contentious fight with a few city officials, who made no effort to disguise their suspicions of his motives, Michael Halpern single-handedly turned the unsightly uppermost block of Duval Street into an art-filled pocket park and later spent more of his own money to alleviate the street’s frequent flooding.
He lived on Shark Key, but was a permanent presence at the 1897 Southernmost Mansion, which he renovated and operated as a boutique hotel with 18 rooms. His pride in the property grew exponentially years later, when he and his son, Rafe, a culinary school graduate, opened the popular Seaside Cafe at the Mansion, which quickly rose in the rankings of Trip Advisor. Halpern was on the property daily, greeting guests and detailing the storied history of the mansion that had hosted Thomas Edison, Al Capone, Tennessee Williams and five presidents. As recently as November, Halpern celebrated the realization of a longtime goal by opening Sky Bar, a rooftop bar atop the mansion.
Quiet benefactor
Plenty of people in Key West would describe Halpern, somewhat cynically, as a wealthy development attorney, hotelier, restaurateur and commercial landlord, and while the description would be accurate, it is also woefully incomplete, as it omits most of who Halpern was and what he did for the island he’d loved since his arrival in 1975.
“Michael was paying for 12 to 15 kids’ college tuition when he died. Every year, he paid off all the unpaid lunch balances at Key West schools. He gave $10,000 or so to ensure the high school band would raise enough money for their trip to London. The list never ends, but he always did everything anonymously,” said Nick Wright, headmaster at Somerset Island Prep, who launched the nonprofit Michelle’s Foundation with Halpern in honor of the wife Halpern had lost to cancer in 2011. Its mission was to help all kids achieve their highest potential, regardless of their challenges, and its motto is, “Never let your burdens define you.”
Halpern eased countless burdens for Key West kids and families.
“When Michael learned that a librarian at Key West High School was bringing in a dozen or so peanut butter and jelly sandwiches each afternoon for kids who would otherwise go home to a house with no food, he launched Food for Thought under the umbrella of the foundation to give kids food to take home at the end of the day,” Wright said.
Michelle’s Foundation includes Keys Learning Center, which provides tutoring for kids, regardless of their ability to pay. Michelle’s Scholars is the college tuition arm of the foundation, which has funded more than 50 college degrees, with 12 to 15 students currently enrolled. The scholarships are awarded based on demonstrated work ethic and desire, rather than grades and test scores.
“Michael always said, ‘Michelle’s Foundation is here for those who can’t do it all themselves,’” Wright recalled. “He basically always gave me a blank check to help any kid who needed it. He paid for basketball sneakers, music lessons, after-school tutoring, prom dresses, field trips. No matter what a kid needed, Michael’s answer was always yes.
“But he would kick my ass for saying all this about what he did for people,” Wright said. “He never wanted any credit or publicity. He never sent photos to the newspapers when he gave someone a check or made a donation.”
Steve Torrence, a longtime friend of Halpern, echoed Wright’s sentiments: Halpern wanted to help, not make headlines.
“Michael wasn’t one to seek the spotlight, yet his quiet support for numerous organizations made a tremendous impact on our community,” Torrence said. “He had one request for all his contributions — keep his name out of it. His legacy of generosity and tenacity will endure, but his absence leaves a void. Key West has lost a great man who loved this community with every fiber of his being.”
“No one loved the community of Key West more than Michael,” said Diane Schmidt, longtime friend and fellow hotel executive. “He had friends in high places, low places and everywhere in between.”
Halpern’s absence now seems unimaginable because his presence was so profound. His best friend, George Fernandez, was still reeling from the news of the loss, and figuring out how to navigate a world without Michael Halpern.
“For the past 32 years, ‘The Honorable Michael Halpern,’ as I called him, was not just my attorney. He was my best friend and confidential wise counsel in life,” Fernandez told the Keys Weekly. “Through the years, he taught me that in business, as in our daily lives, diplomacy and compromise must always prevail. It is my commitment to honor him by forging his legacy for many years to come. True in every respect, a person can have no better epitaph than that which is inscribed in the hearts of his friends.”
Those hearts are breaking this week as memories are shared and memorial plans are made. But Halpern’s own words have brought comfort to many following his death.
“‘Never let your burdens define you,’ was one of the last pieces of advice you gave me the other day while we were sitting on the best porch on the island,” Kelly Norman wrote on Facebook. “Your calls always started with ‘KEL!’ and ended with ‘love you.’ I thought you were larger than life. I thought you would always be here. I don’t know this island without you, but I’ll hold closely to the memories of the past 20 years. The entire island will do the same because you gave so much to so many.”
