Palm Beach Illustrated March 2022

Note to self: When producing an anniversary issue during a pandemic, don’t be surprised if nothing goes according to plan. In my 16 years at the helm of this magazine, I’ve produced celebratory editions to mark our fifty-fifth sixtieth, and sixty-fifth anniversaries. They were all massive efforts, and none was without its surprises, but our seventieth was one for the books. I’ll start with our cover story on the dear and delightful Iris Apfel. I’ve known Iris for almost 20 years, and though she’d graced our pages in the past, I felt that the occasion of her 100th birthday was the right time for a pull-out-all-the-stops cover story. It was all set: Iris would send us archival photos chronicling her brilliant life and style. We’d talk to fashion greats like…

I wrote a draft of sorts for this letter back in 2007. I was manufacturing director of Palm Beach Illustrated then and we had just taken delivery of our gorgeous fifty-fift anniversary issue. I penned a note of appreciation to the team that had printed the landmark magazine. Fifteen years later, the letter and a copy of the magazine that inspired it are still displayed at that printing plant. The issue you hold today was printed in the same facility. Many of the people who produced the fifty-fift also produced the seventieth, including yours truly. Nearly a dozen of the team members listed on the masthead, either as contributors or staff, were also here in 2007. Our current cover star, Iris Apfel, was profiled in the issue under the headline…

COX SCIENCE CENTER TURNS 60 WHO: Cox Science Center and Aquarium WHAT: Sixtieth Anniversary Gala WHERE: Cox Science Center and Aquarium, West Palm Beach HIGHLIGHTS: The recently renamed center celebrated this milestone with electrifying performances, robotic outfits by Dutch fashion tech designer Anouk Wipprecht, and curated cocktails. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IRIS APFEL WHO: Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens, Frances and Jeffrey Fisher WHAT: Iris Apfel’s 100th Birthday Celebration WHERE: Private residence, Palm Beach HIGHLIGHTS: More than 100 friends celebrated the artist, bold businesswoman, and global fashion icon’s 10 decades of life with cocktails, light bites, a buffet dinner, and an evening of toasts to the guest of honor. FOOD FOR THOUGHT WHO: West Palm Beach Library Foundation WHAT: Food for Thought Gala WHERE: Mandel Public Library, West Palm Beach HIGHLIGHTS: Local luminaries gathered to raise…

Pushing Boundaries in Cardiology Jose Navia, MD, Director of the Heart and Vascular Center and Chair of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Florida, is all about pushing boundaries. Before taking his talents to the Sunshine State, the pioneering heart surgeon spent two decades at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus, and was a Cleveland Clinic’s Innovator of the Year Award winner. Today, as the first to hold the S. Donald Sussman Distinguished Chair in Heart and Vascular Research, created with a generous gift from financier and philanthropist S. Donald Sussman, Dr. Navia is able to pursue minimally invasive procedures that will benefit cardiovascular patients in South Florida and beyond. “We’re developing new technology for transcatheter heart valve repair and valve replacement that allows us to avoid high-risk surgeries,” he says. The doctor…

Palm Beacher Ann Bach bought her first mini watercolor set after coming across the tiny, whimsical works of the late Dutch artist Donald Evans, who hand-painted postage stamps for fictiona countries. “I was completely charmed by them,” she says. Now Bach uses paintbrushes about the size of an eyeliner brush to bring her signature 2-inch-by-4-inch watercolors to life. She typically works on commission (her custom pet portraits are a hit among local dog owners) but also paints scenes depicting how iconic Palm Beach locales looked in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Quartet I, which features her historically informed renderings of the Flagler Museum, the beach at The Breakers, the Palm Beach Hotel, and Root Trail, was inspired by photographs Bach saw on a visit to Whitehall last spring. “The photographs—of…

There are teachers and then there are mentors who pass through students’ lives and have the power to impact them forever. Mickey Smith Jr. belongs in the second category, so much so that he was recognized with the prestigious Grammy Music Educator Award in 2020. Last year, Smith relocated from Louisiana to teach music to elementary and middle schoolers at The Greene School in West Palm Beach. He’ll be an integral part of the school’s gradual expansion to include high school students. “My hope is to create a world-class music education experience that not only strikes a chord with students but helps them discover their own ‘sound,’” Smith shares. This goal—encouraging students to recognize and embrace their own significance—is part of Smith’s overall teaching philosophy. “I am a Grammy winner…