Larry Jacob Marthaler was born on February. 1, 1935, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of the former Marguerite Leona Quintez and Alfred Jacob Marthaler. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1957. The following year he joined Pan American Airways. During the following sixteen years, he was stationed in New York, Denver, Miami, Chicago, South Vietnam and Atlanta as an employee of the airlines.
On August 23, 1975, he married Mary Jean Bridges of Cadiz, Kentucky, and the couple moved to Longboat Key, Florida. Larry then worked for Florida Airlines from 1975 to 1982. In 1982, Larry joined the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce as head of the tourism association. Under his leadership, the county’s tourism agency separated from the chamber to become the Greater Sarasota Tourism Association and he became the executive director of the organization until 1998. The organization eventually became the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau.
On Oct. 17, 1983, a drawbridge between Longboat Key and Sarasota became stuck in an open position. Suddenly, drivers who used the bridge for a 10- to 12-minute drive had to travel for more than an hour on a detour road to reach their destination. Larry, who made the drive twice daily, said to himself, "There has got to be a better way." Within 48 hours, Marthaler had worked out a plan to ferry passengers between Longboat Key and the mainland, with buses carrying passengers to their destination.
Suddenly, frustrated commuters were starting their days with a cup of coffee on board the Le Barge and ending it with a beer while heading home. Within a few days, live music was added to the boat. "It was a nice little party on the boat," Marthaler told the Longboat Observer in 2008. "There was a common inconvenience." The ferry logged as many as 5,000 passengers per day
The bridge reopened exactly two weeks after it became stuck with its north and south spans welded together. Nearly one year later, Marthaler received the Golden Gavel Award for "Outstanding Community Service" in recognition of his novel solution.
Marthaler founded the St. Armands Circle Circus Ring of Fame in 1986 as a way to highlight Sarasota’s unique ties to the circus industry. The Ring of Fame currently honors 125 individuals and groups for their contributions to the circus and inducts new members each year. A plaque honoring Marthaler’s contribution was added to the display in 2014.
He spent his 16 years as SCVB director working tirelessly to promote Sarasota County as a world-class tourist destination. Marthaler led a successful campaign that persuaded voters to pass a tourist development tax in 1988, after the measure failed twice. In 2015, the tourist development funds generated more than $19 million for beach renovation, arts and cultural activities and tourism promotion.
Larry died on March 29, 206 in Nashville, Tennessee where he had moved to be closer to his wife’s family.
LINEAGE: (Larry Marthaler was the husband of Mary Jean Bridges. Mary is the daughter of John Thomas and Mary Henrietta Sumner Bridges, granddaughter of Drew Manley and Lena Mae Guier Bridges and great-granddaughter of Starkie T. and Elizabeth Lawrence Bridges. Starkie was the second child of William and Mary Thomas Bridges. William was the fourth child of Drury and Charity Cohoon Bridges. Mary was the fifth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)
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