Sarasota County Commissioner Nancy Detert dies at 78

Sarasota County Commissioner Nancy Detert, who has been involved in Sarasota County politics for 30 years and served in both the Florida House and Senate, died April 5. She was 78. 

Sarasota County officials posted the news on Facebook just after 8 PM Wednesday, saying “it was the deepest regret and sadness that (we) must acknowledge the death of our dear friend and colleague, Sarasota County Commission Vice Chair Nancy C. Detert. Commissioner Detert passed away peacefully in her home April 5, and no foul play is suspected, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Our focus right now is on supporting Nancy’s family and ensuring the continuity of government.” 

A Republican, Detert, who was in the mortgage business before getting into politics, was elected to the Sarasota County Commission in 2016 and subsequently re-elected in 2020. She served as vice chair in 2017 and chair in 2018, in addition to being vice chair this year. 

Detert’s entry to electoral politics came in 1988 when she won a seat on the Sarasota County School Board and served one term. But her political connections run much deeper: Detert, according to her Sarasota County bio, is related to Charles Carroll, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 

Detert was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1998 and served through 2006, and was elected to the Florida Senate in 2008, serving through 2016. She mostly served and represented areas of south Sarasota County, including Osprey and Venice. Out of all her awards and accolades, the bill she was most proud of, according to her bio, was a bill that extends foster care from age 18 to 21. The Senate President named it the Nancy Detert Caring and Compassionate Act.

Detert attended Siena Heights University in Michigan, according to her bio. She moved to Florida from Chicago in 1978 with her husband and three sons, and she founded and ran Osprey Mortgage Co. 25 years. In addition to her three children, she has nine grandchildren. 

The Republican Party of Sarasota County, in a statement released late Wednesday night, says “it deeply mourns the loss of friend and long-time community leader Nancy Detert, who has been a stalwart working on behalf of the people of Sarasota County for 30 years. She is well-known and respected by people in both parties who agreed and disagreed with her. Nancy did her homework, knew the issues and knew the people in her community. She was always an honest broker, doing what she believed was right, even if it hurt her politically. She was a beloved mother, grandmother and friend to so many.”

Detert currently represents the County commission on First Step of Sarasota, Airport Advisory Commission, Gulf Consortium, Bay Park Improvement Board, Sarasota Consortium Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, Tourist Development Council and Venice Main Street. She previously served on the Economic Development Council, Canvassing Board and the Sarasota-Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Details regarding forthcoming memorial services will be made public as information becomes available, the county says in its Facebook post.