A great leader and advocate for social justice, Mrs. Range pioneered the fight against decaying, segregated schools in South Florida and launched an extraordinary political career that led all the way to advising the White House.

   In 1960 she became the first African American to serve on the City of Miami Commission. In the next decade, she was the first woman and the second black in Florida history to serve in a high-ranking post as the State’s director of the Department of Community Affairs. And President Jimmy Carter appointed her to the National Railroad Passenger Board – quite a leap from her early employment cleaning railroad cars in segregated Miami.

   Everyone, from U.S. presidents down, courted Mrs. Range’s favor. “She knew more about politics than anyone I know,” said former U.S. Rep. Carrie Meek. “She taught me humility, first and foremost...and to go out and talk with the little people of the community who no one else thought about.”

   Although she loved Miami, the elegant and eloquent Range never hesitated to criticize the poverty, despair and racism so prevalent in the city, and the welfare system that “kept people poor.” She walked the streets during the riots of the 80s, urging calm. She worked for gun control; battled for more playgrounds and for regular garbage pickups; fought for jobs and more government contracts for the black community; and she assisted women into political leadership roles.

   In her eighties, Mrs. Range assumed the Chair of Virginia Key Beach Park Trust, an organization that grew from a citizen’s group opposed to commercial development of the historic Park. Her desire was to “rebuild what we once had as a living memorial to our culture and the people who used to go there.”

   The strength and commitment to community she brought to this daunting task has born fruit. The Park is well on the way to reopening. Its historic structures have been restored. And the Park’s new South Florida Human Rights Museum, so close to her heart, is on the drawing board.

   “I’m deeply saddened. She was the matriarch of our community,” said Congresswoman Meek.

   The Trustees and staff of Virginia Key Beach Park Trust will miss her wisdom and love greatly, and send their heartfelt condolences to her family.