The Landings & Bay Colony

8

Mayor’s Message continued

Rescue originally began as a volunteer group organized by
the local Red Cross chapter. Fort Lauderdale Ocean Rescue
was the first service in Florida to employ female lifeguards
and the second to employ African-American lifeguards. Fort
Lauderdale Ocean Rescue is certified by the United States
Lifesaving Association (USLA), nationally recognized for
excellence, and committed to providing a safe and
enjoyable experience for millions of visitors to world
famous Fort Lauderdale Beach. Fort Lauderdale Ocean
Rescue supervises three miles of continuous public beach
from the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park up to and including
the beach in front of Hugh Taylor Birch State Park. In the
guarded areas of the beach, there are 20 year-round,
permanently staffed lifeguard towers spaced between 200
and 400 yards apart. There are also as many as 10
auxiliary stands that are used during the peak seasons,
special events and holidays. Since 1985, Fort Lauderdale
Ocean Rescue has offered a Junior Lifeguard Program to
train the next generation of beach patrol professionals and
continue a tradition of excellence.

Nicki E. Grossman

Nicki E. Grossman, President of the Greater
Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau
since 1995, heads up Broward County's
convention and tourism marketing efforts.
Broward County's hospitality industry currently

employs more than 168,000 and, in 2015, generated
$14.1 billion in revenues from 15.3 million visitors. Nicki
Grossman was elected to the Hollywood, Florida
Commission in 1978 and elected to the Broward County
Commission in 1982. She serves on the Board of Directors
for the South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee, the
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Travel and Tourism
Advisory Council, American Coastal Coalition Board of
Directors, and the Florida Commission on Tourism (where
she was elected 2007-2008 Chair for VISIT FLORIDA). In
2007, Nicki Grossman was inducted into the VISIT FLORIDA
Tourism Hall of Fame. She has been named one of the Top
25 Most Influential People in the Meetings Industry by
Meeting News; one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in
Tourism by Travel Agent; and one of the Top 25 Marketing
Minds by the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association
International (HSMAI). In 2014, Nicki Grossman was
honored as South Florida Business Leader of the Year. She
recently received the JCC Maccabi Midot Award, APEX
Distinguished Service Award, and the Broward County Film
Society Visionary Award. Nicki Grossman was born and

raised in Miami Beach. She is married to Circuit Court Judge
Mel Grossman and is the mother of three daughters and
"Nana" to eight grandchildren.

Reverend Monsignor 
Vincent T. Kelly

Reverend Monsignor Vincent T. Kelly was
born in Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland. He
was educated at St. Patrick's College in
Thurles County, Tipperary, Ireland and was

ordained into the priesthood on June 10, 1956. Monsignor
Kelly began his service to the Fort Lauderdale community in
1969 at St. Pius X Church and Cardinal Gibbons High
School. In 1970, he was assigned as Supervising Principal
at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Under his leadership,
St. Thomas Aquinas developed into one of the nation's
leading high schools for academic and athletic excellence
and will celebrate its 80th Anniversary in 2016 with more
than 20,000 alumni. Today, Monsignor Kelly serves as
Pastor of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and
Supervising Principal of both St. Thomas Aquinas and
Cardinal Gibbons High Schools. For more than four
decades, he has been an integral part of Fort Lauderdale
providing leadership, education, guidance, and spiritual
direction to our community. He established what today is
known as the Catholic Community Foundation to ensure the
future of Catholic schools, particularly those located in
underserved areas of the community. He was instrumental
in the formation of the Florida Catholic Conference, the
Florida Academic Association of Non-Public Schools, and
was part of the vision for the National Congress on
Catholic Schools for the 21st Century. In 2010, he
spearheaded a massive relief effort for the victims of the
earthquake in Haiti, working with thousands of supporters
throughout Fort Lauderdale to regularly send physicians
and supplies to the island to assist in the recovery effort. In
June 2016, Monsignor Kelly will celebrate his 60th
Anniversary as a priest with nearly 50 years of exemplary
service to the Fort Lauderdale community.

The City of Fort Lauderdale established the Walk of Fame
in 2010 at the inaugural Great American Beach Party to
pay tribute to the legendary Connie Francis on the 50th
Anniversary of "Where the Boys Are," the 1960 film which
made Fort Lauderdale an overnight sensation and a "must
see" destination for visitors.

Walk of Fame Honorees are recognized for outstanding
work in their respective fields and for making long-term