Bob with Lori Levinson, Diane Colonna, Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Musco, Jon Levinson and Ron Hoggard during a conference out west.
On paper, Bob Costin and I shouldn’t have been friends.
He was tall. I’m short.
He loved the Red Sox, I love the Yankees.
He was a Republican, I’m a Democrat.
He wasn’t keen on Chinese food and loved lobster. I live for orange chicken and can’t even look at a lobster.
Bob Costin was 30 years older than me when we lost him last week. He lived a long and very good life, but losing him sure does hurt.
He’s family.
Diane and I love Bob and his lovely wife Sonya.
We are not alone.
Everyone who knew Bob —and there were many —loved him.
He was warm, funny, optimistic, smart, sensitive, caring, open-minded and lived one heck of a life.
Bob when he was president of FTD at the White House with Betty Ford. This image is in the Ford Presidential Library.
Bob and Sonya owned Costin’s florist in downtown Delray for decades and Bob became president of FTD, rising to the top of his profession. He travelled the world for FTD and was famously in Iran when the Shah was overthrown. He and his contingent had to run through the airport to escape when the country fell to the Ayatollah.
He told stories with gusto and wit and we hung on every word. I will miss those stories.
And I’ll miss the calls when we discussed the news of the day. We were different people from different generations but we always found common ground.
Diane grew close to Bob when he served as a CRA commissioner. He was a really good CRA commissioner and very supportive of staff and his fellow commissioners.
He would later run for and serve a term on the City Commission. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Bob on the dais. We called him the “high commissioner” in deference to his 6’5” height.
I relied on Bob. I truly did.
I valued his experience and his common sense wisdom.
He was the opposite of me in terms of temperament, and I needed his quiet mentoring.
He was calm, I was high strung. He had decades of perspective; I was still a young man in my 30s.
You can see Bob’s nameplate in this shot. He was a calming influence on the dais.
Having Bob on the commission gave us confidence and I knew he had my back. He had a sparkle in his eye when he looked at you that put you at ease even during the tensest of moments.
I knew he believed in what we were doing and that gave me comfort. He had a gentle way of framing issues and injecting humor and common sense into the conversations we were having with each other and with the community.
We were change agents. We were moving things forward, making noise, pushing ideas and driving hard and fast. But we were also having fun—largely because of Bob.
He set the tone.
And he calmed the waters too.
Bob would amble over to The Green Owl every morning where there used to be a table of civic fathers (all men, no women) who sat and held court.
I liked all the men who sat at the table—Ernie Simon, Mayor Leon Weekes, Charlie Gwynn, Ken Ellingsworth, Bob Miller, and a few others. All civic giants; all long-term players.
I think most were OK with me, but I wasn’t a peer. I wasn’t one of them. Bob was.
And if they had a beef with a decision we made, Bob explained the rationale behind the vote and smoothed the waters.
He knew how to lead with grace. Even when he disagreed with you; he was affable. He showed respect for others and he was respected by all as a result.
Bob Costin was old school.
A flip phone. No email.
When we would comment on the large volume of emails we were getting on a hot issue, Bob would smile.
“I didn’t get any,” he would say. “My modem must be down.”
And then he would laugh, that big, garrulous, wonderful and warm laugh.
I wish I had a dollar for every time he used the “modem” line which was always followed by that laugh.
I liked so much about Bob, but I loved three things the most.
First, his hunger for knowledge and his ability to keep an open mind.
Sometimes people of a certain vintage get a reputation of being closed off to change. Not Bob. He was willing to try things. Willing to take a leap.
“We have to keep up with the times,” he’d say. “People will understand.”
Bob and Diane in front of the Costin’s rock star RV.
I also loved how much he was devoted to Sonya, a teacher who ended up working alongside Bob at the florist. They were quite a pair, married for 65 years.
They did so much together. Travel, RV adventures, a dream lake house in Georgia and an occasional Red Sox game. Ugh, those Red Sox.
Bob would call me if the Sox beat the Yankees and rub it in.
I was not above giving it back to him.
When we invited Bucky Dent to get a proclamation on the 25th anniversary of his epic home run to beat the Sox at Fenway in 1978, Bob whipped out a Red Sox cap as Bucky came to the mic.
It was an epic moment. And everyone, including Bucky, laughed.
They traded some good natured barbs and a special moment was made immortal.
Bob used to joke that he lived on Federal Highway before living on Federal Highway was cool.
The Costin’s had a cottage on U.S. 1 where Putt N Around now sits. He lived there before the townhomes made the neighborhood fashionable.
His cottage was moved and is now an office in the Old School Square Historic Arts District.
I drive by it frequently and last week when I passed by, I got a lump in my throat.
I remember Bob calling from Georgia and asking about his house after a hurricane. Would I go by and check on it?
Sure, Bob.
Of course, I would tell him that it was gone, trying my best to sell that story, but all I heard was that laugh.
“You know Jeff,” he would say. “I would’ve emailed you, but my modem is down.”
Bob served two years on the commission, opening a seat for Rita Ellis to secure. Rita would follow me as mayor.
We continued to stay in touch, often going to dinner—but never Chinese.
“Next time, Jeff,” he would say.
So, we kept going to Longhorn and a few times to Il Girasole.
We talked Delray. We talked national news. We met up at a wedding in Italy. We met Bob and Sonya’s RV friends and we avoided Chinese food and email. And we talked about my kids.
And that’s my third favorite thing about Bob. He was genuinely concerned for your kids and family. He adored Commissioner Jon Levinson and his wife and their three daughters and attended many a dinner at their home, including holidays.
When I got Covid, Bob, who finally got a smart phone, texted me encouraging words. Every single day.
Don’t give up. He wrote.
You’ll be ok. He texted.
And I didn’t. And I was. Eventually.
Lately, Bob was sick.
Diane and I went to see him. He smiled. He looked different but still had that wonderful voice. His last words to us was “I love you guys.”
We said it back.
And now that he’s gone, I realize something. Bob’s modem was never down.
A modem is a device that that is used to transmit and receive information.
That was our Bob.
He brought us information from a place of goodness, kindness and love.
Love for people, love for community, love for Delray Beach.
We will miss this man. He was the high commissioner, a wonderful man and a friend to so so many.
We love you Bob.
The Costin’s in Georgia with Chuck and Pam Halberg.
