Silver Throne Edward Pinkney (1914-1992)

From Ebony magazine, November 1975.

   Longtime Florida educator Silver Throne Edward Pinkney etched his name into history in 1975 when he was elected as Mayor of Eustis, Florida, becoming the first African-American to be awarded that distinction. The principal of several schools in the Eustis, Leesburg, and Kissimmee areas, Pinkney would subsequently be elected to two further terms as mayor following his first term in office. Born on October 18, 1914, little information could be located on Pinkney's formative years. As most sources record his name under the initials "S.T.E.", a bit of digging had to be done to find out what those initials stood for. Thankfully, Ancestry.com fielded a listing for "Silver Throne Edward Pinkney" in the 1992 Florida death index, partially putting to rest the mystery! Despite this finding, a listing for a "Silvier Thorn Edward Pinkney" (you'll notice the spelling variation there) was found in the 1977 Profiles of Black Mayors and is presumed to be a spelling error on the part of the compilers.

  A student at Florida A & M University, Pinkney earned his bachelor of science degree from that school and later went on to receive his master's degree in administration and supervision from Tennessee A & I University. Recorded under the name "S.T. Pinkney" in the Florida Marriage index, Pinkney first married in May 1936 to Janie Webb, and the couple would later divorce in Manatee, Florida in 1947. He would later remarry to Helen Ponder, who survived him upon his death in 1992.

  For decades prior to his mayoralty, S.T.E. Pinkney was heavily involved in Florida education, and prior to his removal to central Florida in 1952 had served as assistant principal for the Douglas High School in Live Oak. Following his resettlement, Pinkney went on to hold the post of principal at the Kissimmee High School, the Carver Heights High School of Leesburg, the J.R.E. Lee High School in Wildwood, and the Eustis Vocational School. He would continue to be a prominent face in Lake County educational circles until his retirement in 1982 and gained further distinction in county civic affairs, being a past president of the Lake County Investment Corporation, a vice president of the Lake County Community Chamber of Commerce, and was a member of the Waterman Medical Center's board of directors.

S.T.E. Pinkney, from the Orlando Sentinel,  September 12, 1960.

    S.T.E. Pinkney didn't enter Florida politics until he was nearly sixty, being appointed to the Eustis City Commission by Florida Governor Reuben Askew in 1974. Pinkney's appointment had been occasioned by the death of Walter Simmons, the first African-American to serve on that commission since the reconstruction period. In 1975 Pinkney was elected as Mayor of Eustis, being the black man elected to that office. He would serve a one year term and was elected to two further terms as mayor in 1979 and 1984, with his service being noted as "most effective in getting low-income housing, paved streets and street lighting in the black community". 

  In addition to his mayoralty, Pinkney would continue service on the Eustis City Commission for fourteen years, losing his reelection bid in November 1988. The following year he was honored with a bronze monument at Eustis' Ferran Park, and in February 1990 received further honors from the city in connection with Eustis' first Black History month program. Pinkney's final years were marred by kidney failure, requiring dialysis. He died in Eustis on May 8, 1992, aged 77, and was survived by his wife Helen and children Shamayne, Brigitte, Sylvia, and Fred. He was later interred at the Greenwood Cemetery in Eustis.