A statement from the Stierheim family by Judy Cannon Stierheim
As Merrett would say, don’t be afraid to tell people you love them. He had the capacity to love and in his work his love was made visible. Our family is deeply saddened without him in our midst, however, we are blessed and rejoice in the legacy he forged and left through his more than half century of public service. He believed that those who chose public service as a career meant, without exception, managing in the best interest of the public good. Merrett surrounded himself with professional public administrators who shared his ethical values and principles. He was an exceptional mentor to many young professionals and continued that to the day he died. To that end, he was proud of his work with the Collins Legacy Group in the establishment of the LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy, at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), to fund scholarships for FAU students studying public administration as well as the many ethical issues confronting young administrators today. Merrett’s ideas and commitment to ethical public management will live on through the academy and its graduates.
Thoughts about Merrett Stierheim from Dr. Peter Cruise, Founding Executive Director of the LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy
I first had the opportunity to meet Merrett Stierheim in late 2017, when he delivered the keynote address at the 11th Annual Ethics Seminar in Boca Raton. To many who have grown up in South Florida, the name Merrett Stierheim was well known as Mr. Good Government. He was the high-profile public servant who reshaped and restructured the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County governments to deal with a rapidly growing and increasingly diverse population. He was the public face of local government for tens of thousands of people in South Florida. His public service career began in 1959 and continued up to 2019, when the COVID pandemic and health issues forced his withdrawal from active service.
When FAU reactivated the Public Ethics Academy in 2017, one of the first projects we proposed was to publish Merrett’s keynote address. He received the request with interest, and we published both video and written versions. He later told me the address was based on his planned autobiography summarizing what he had learned over 60 years of public service. Merrett hoped the book would be used by both students and practitioners in government. FAU will publish that book posthumously, with the proceeds from the sale going to a scholarship endowment.
Also, about this time, Merrett told us at FAU that the Miami-Dade County office of the Collins Center for Public Policy, which he chaired, was disbanding and the remaining funds and inventory would be available to public organizations who submitted a worthy proposal. Within a very short period, FAU proposed to expand and rename our Public Ethics Academy as the LeRoy Collins Public Ethics Academy, offering scholarships to FAU students who were pursuing careers in government. Merrett was instrumental in our receiving the $500,000 endowment and joined our Academy Advisory Board as Chair.
Merrett served as Chair until he was forced by bad health to step back in 2023. But in the years he was associated with FAU and the Ethics Academy, he appeared at our ethics seminars as a panelist and spoke to our graduate students about how to manage ethically in the public sector. He lived through some of the most turbulent times in Florida and the United States, yet he maintained his ideals and ethical stance throughout. It was this message that students were most eager to hear.
Merrett Stierheim was a one-of-a-kind public servant upon whose shoulders those elected and working in the public sector should always aspire to stand. To quote Shakespeare, “He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again.”
Thoughts about Merrett Stierheim from Dr. Robin Larson, current Executive Director of the LeRoy Collins Ethics Academy
When I was first privileged to meet Merrett Stierheim, I must confess that I was a bit intimidated. Growing up and living in south Florida, one would often hear that name on the evening news. After many years working in local government and then going back to school to learn even more about good governance, I became even more attuned to that name when mentioned. For good reasons, Merrett Stierheim’s name was always associated with taking on challenging circumstances and turning things around.
All these years later, after embarking on a new journey in my professional life, it was working with Merrett that was one of the more exciting opportunities. Merrett’s passion for responsible and ethical behavior in public service is unmatched. Merrett was generous with wisdom, which he willingly shared with our students aspiring toward public service. Merrett would also add those special details to his lived experiences that make the story all the more real – and in some cases – jaw-droppingly surprising.
As we reflect on Merrett’s contributions and his legacy, it was his “unwavering commitment to the highest standards of ethical conduct” that shine brightly (Talbot, 2018). Students of ethical deliberation and decision-making can look to Merrett’s approaches to dealing with difficult situations, his servant leadership, and his commitment to always doing the right thing as inspiration for their own lives.