‘Forever in my heart.’ Late Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian honored at memorial

Loved ones, colleagues and constituents of the late Miami Beach Commissioner Mark Samuelian gathered Monday to celebrate his life after he died June 22 of an undisclosed illness.

Samuelian, 58, was remembered in eulogies for his selflessness, intellect and optimism. His life partner, Laura Dominguez, recalled how the Massachusetts-born Samuelian learned Spanish to better connect with her Cuban family. His friends and colleagues marveled at how he would always turn the other cheek in the face of bullies or political vitriol. Residents talked about how Samuelian listened to their concerns and gave them a voice on the City Commission.

“I love you Mark, you’re forever in my heart,” Dominguez said, her hands clasped on her chest.

A large American flag flew from a fire truck outside a packed New World Center in South Beach, where a projector played a photo slideshow of his life moments as the Miami Beach Classical Music Festival performed classical renditions of “America the Beautiful” and “Over the Rainbow.”

David Blumberg, who attended the Wharton School of Business with Samuelian in the late 1980s, traced their friendship back to school presentations and later in the grueling business consulting world working as a partner at Accenture.

“Mark was just getting warmed up professionally,” he said.

Samuelian, the grandson of Armenian immigrants who escaped genocide, was born in Boston and became the first person in his family to graduate from college. He was a state chess champion and later a speed-chess master, and he volunteered at chess clubs in Miami Beach.

His former commission aide, Julio Rodriguez, joked that he thought Samuelian had a “super computer” for a brain.

He used his smarts to help understand complex issues and solve problems, Rodriguez said.

“Commissioner Samuelian was a man of integrity,” Rodriguez said.

Samuelian, who bought a home in Miami Beach in 2003, was first elected to the City Commission in 2017 and reelected in 2021. He had three years left in his four-year term, and his former colleagues are now debating how to fill his vacant seat — via a special election in November or through a stop-gap appointment until the next commission elections in 2023. Commissioners, who are at an impasse on how to fill the vacancy, are scheduled to further discuss the topic at their July 20 meeting.

“We need more people like Mark in this city, we need more people like Mark in this world,” resident Jo Manning said during her remarks Friday.