News

By Dan Moffett

    SOUTH PALM BEACH — Woodrow “Woody” Gorbach was 91 years old when he decided to enter the world of politics and claim a seat on the South Palm Beach Town Council, becoming one of the oldest elected officials in the state’s history.
    “I thought I had something to offer the town,” he said. “It was a way to serve.”
    Mr. Gorbach knew something about service, after all. He enlisted in the Army during World War II and at 19 found himself fighting in the bloody Battle of Anzio — a life-changing experience he found difficult to talk about for decades.
    During 18 months on the council, Mr. Gorbach stood up against bending rules to suit developers, helped push through a tax rollback for residents, put together a Memorial Day ceremony to honor veterans and organized a much-heralded car show at Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar for the town’s 60th anniversary.
    “Woody stepped up to the plate to serve and did it his own way,” Mayor Bonnie Fischer said. “He accomplished so much in a short period of time.”
    Mr. Gorbach died on Oct. 31 after a short illness. He was 92.
    A resident of the town for some 20 years, Mr. Gorbach was a Connecticut native who built a thriving real estate business in Bridgeport before moving to Florida. Here, he worked as an agent for Lang Realty in Manalapan, for a time alongside his son, Donald.
    But his 60-year love for real estate was surpassed by his 63-year marriage to Lois, the “love of his life,” who survives.
    Young men frequently would ask Mr. Gorbach for advice about staying happily married. He would crack a smile and say, “Here is the secret. It’s yes. You just say yes.”
    As inseparable as Woody and Lois were, she said he talked very little about his war experience — until 2014, when he joined a group of veterans who flew to Washington to visit national memorials, a trip sponsored by Southeast Florida Honor Flights. For a Coastal Star story, Mr. Gorbach told reporter Ron Hayes about a close call in the Battle of Monte Cassino:
    “I was only there three days and I got trench foot with frostbite,” he remembered. “They sent me to a hospital in Africa for three weeks, and while I was gone my platoon was annihilated. Frostbite saved my life.”
    Mr. Gorbach returned to the Italian campaign and hit the beach at Anzio in 1944. He came home with a Bronze Star, a Croix de Guerre and a firm belief that “every day is a gift.”
    Sharon Tardonia, office administrator at Lang Realty, said Mr. Gorbach’s age didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for selling properties or seeing his picture in the newspaper.
    “It’s just not going to be the same without Woody in the office,” she said. “He was still very active in real estate and sold a listing in October. I was very happy to assist him in his last transaction. We made a good team. I will miss him terribly.”
    Woody and Lois “were like peanut butter and jelly, always together,” Tardonia said.
    “Woody stayed very full of life until the end,” said Fischer. “We’ve lost another of the Greatest Generation.”
    Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time.