Hal Spaet, former state representative and Miami Beach councilman, dies at 78

Harold “Hal” Spaet, an attorney who served in the Florida Legislature and on the Miami Beach City Council in the 1970s and 1980s and created a nonprofit after his retirement, died last Tuesday at the age of 78.

Spaet, the son of a former Miami Beach city councilman, county commissioner and circuit judge by the same name, was a rising star in local politics after graduating from the University of Miami Law School in 1969.

He formed the county’s Youth Relations Board to give young people a voice in local government before being elected to the Miami Beach City Council at 30 years old in 1974. After four years in city government, he won a Florida House seat in 1978 as a Democrat and was reelected twice, serving in Tallahassee until 1984.

“He was a good guy, had a good heart, wanted to do the right things,” said Mike Abrams, a former state representative whose term overlapped with Spaet’s. “In the Legislature, his interests reflected the concerns of the elderly people that live on the Beach.”

Ron Book: Spaet ‘really made a difference’

Ron Book, a longtime Florida lobbyist, said Spaet fought for funding for mental health and substance abuse issues at a time when few others were doing so.

“He helped put a heartbeat on meeting those unmet needs in the community when it wasn’t the most popular issue at the time,” Book said. “He was a standup, wonderful guy who really made a difference when he served.”

Spaet was easy to work with, Book added.

“Hal could be intense as hell and become the funniest guy in the world two seconds later,” he said.

Spaet faced controversy toward the end of his legislative stint over a series of car accidents and an incident in which Spaet suffered a seizure on the House floor. Investigations revealed that Spaet was suffering from a condition similar to epilepsy and was struggling to regulate his prescribed medication.

“It was my feeling that I’d rather run the risk of over-medicating myself and letting people think whatever they’d think about my appearance, than risk having another seizure on the floor in front of everybody,” Spaet told the Miami Herald in 1983.

Spaet was defeated in 1984 by Republican Alberto Gutman. He continued working as an attorney for several years, including some lobbying gigs.

Cancer treatment leads to starting a nonprofit

In 2016, Spaet was diagnosed with bladder cancer, requiring the removal of his bladder and the use of a urostomy implant. Distressed by the emotional toll it took and a lack of available information, Spaet created a nonprofit, Miami Ostomy Aftercare, to educate and support ostomy patients and providers.

“He was at a point in his life when he could have just retired and not done anything else, but he took on this project where he saw a need,” said Susan Neuman, a former Miami Herald reporter who helped Spaet with his nonprofit efforts.

The organization held monthly support group meetings featuring guest speakers, set up a help line for nurses and patients, and created a website with resources. Its operations ceased in 2021 during the COVID pandemic.

“I am proud to have achieved many of our original goals in the past four-and-a-half years,” Spaet wrote in a message on the group’s website. “It saddens me to say Goodbye. Our dedicated staff and volunteers have been so generous with their time and talent. There are no adequate words to express how much all are appreciated.”

Spaet is survived by his sister, Carolyn Weinberg, as well as two nephews and four great nieces and nephews.