By Ron Hayes COUNTY POCKET — Mark Alba was never a mayor, but to
his many friends and acquaintances in South County, he was "The
Mayor." "You couldn't go anywhere in Delray Beach without someone
knowing him," remembers his roommate, John Kiggins. "He was just
very popular, very social, and a real mainstay in the nightspots
along Atlantic Avenue, even though he wasn't a drinker, so he
became known as the mayor." Mark "The Mayor" Alba died suddenly of
heart failure on June 26. He was 53, and had lived in the area
since 1989. Before moving to Lake Worth shortly before his death,
Mr. Alba shared a house with Kiggins on Surf Road in the county
pocket south of Briny Breezes. "About a year ago, he built an
amazing Tiki bar in the backyard that sort of became the
centerpiece in our neighborhood," remembers John Ferber, another
longtime friend. Only after the bar was complete, did the renters
remember that they hadn't asked their landlord's permission to
erect the structure. "Then the landlord saw it and loved it,"
Ferber says. "He said, 'I always wanted to do this.'" When not
impulsively building, Mr. Alba was a book lover who spent hours on
the beach, pursuing an amateur historian's love of World War II
military history. He retained a love for his native New England,
followed the Red Sox and New England Patriots faithfully, and also
dabbled in the local antique market. "He had a knack for buying
something at the Goodwill store for $10 and selling it in an
auction for $200," says Kiggins. Mark Benjamin Alba was born on
Dec. 17, 1955, in Winchester, Mass. A 1977 graduate of Boston
College, he had worked for Merrill Lynch of New York before coming
to Florida, where he continued to work as a financial trader. Mr.
Alba is survived by two sisters, Beverly Alba and Cynthia Alba, and
a brother, Bruce, all of Massachusetts. A memorial service was held
in Winthrop, Mass., with a local memorial on the beach to be
announced.
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