Francis E. (Frank) Pierce, Jr., passed away quietly on May 23, 2022, at the age of 92. He was born in Winter Haven, Florida where he had the opportunity as a young man to water ski professionally at Cypress Gardens, later becoming a member of its Board of Directors. While working at Cypress Gardens, he saw a young woman who was a member of the Tangerine Bowl Court, Patricia Ann Michaels, whom he would see again as a student at the University of Florida and who would become his wife.
While at the University of Florida, Frank joined the Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity, would serve on the cheerleading squad and became an ROTC cadet. Frank served in the United States Army during the Korean War and then returned to the University of Florida where he attended law school.
Frank and Patricia, his wife, moved from Gainesville with their oldest son, Frank III, to Orlando in 1956. Their second son, Terry, was born in Orlando in 1959. Frank practiced law in Orlando and earned his fifty-year certificate from the Florida Bar. He was an active member of the Orange County Bar Association and served on numerous committees for the betterment of the legal community.
Frank was a devoted member of the St. James Catholic Cathedral Parish and served as a lector.
Frank was a voracious reader and teller of tales, often beginning a story with: “I may have told you this before, but it bears repeating…”
Frank will be deeply missed by his wife, Patricia, sons Frank III (Rebecca), Terry (Julie), grandsons Frank IV (Erica), Dillon and Jackson, great grandson Teddy, and brother John G. Pierce (Kathleen), along with many nieces and nephews and their families.
A Funeral Mass will be held on Monday, June 6, 2022, at 10:00 AM at the St. James Cathedral Church, 215 N. Orange Avenue, Orlando, Florida, 32801, with a reception following the Mass at the University Club of Orlando, 150 E. Central Blvd., Orlando, FL. He will be interred at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery, 5525 US Highway 1, Mims, FL, 32754 at 2:30 PM on June 7, 2022.