DeLand and Volusia County say goodbye to former state Rep. Pat Patterson as flags fly at half-staff

Flags flew at half-staff Saturday at the Florida Capitol, the Volusia County Courthouse and DeLand City Hall as family, friends and former colleagues gathered in DeLand to remember Ralph "Pat" Patterson, a Republican who represented part of Volusia County in the Florida House for a decade and served two separate stints on the Volusia County Council. Patterson died Monday, Sept. 21, at age 77.

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered the tribute in a memorandum dated Oct. 2, directing that the flags of the United States and Florida be lowered from sunrise to sunset on Saturday, Oct. 3, the day of Patterson's celebration of life. The memorandum notes that Patterson passed away on Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, at the age of 77, and refers to him as Former Representative Pat Patterson.

A celebration of life in DeLand

The celebration of life was scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at First Presbyterian Church in DeLand, according to Florida Politics. The outlet reported that Patterson died after a two-and-a-half-year fight with pancreatic cancer.

The three locations named in the governor's order reflect the arc of Patterson's public life: the Capitol in Tallahassee, where he spent 10 years as a state lawmaker; the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand, the county seat whose government he helped lead in two different decades; and DeLand City Hall in the city where he built his insurance career.

From the Navy to the classroom to insurance

Patterson was born Oct. 12, 1948, in West Palm Beach. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1969 to 1973 and then attended Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education in 1976 and a master of education degree in 1978, according to his biography.

He taught elementary school from 1976 to 1978 before moving into the insurance business, a career that lasted 47 years in DeLand, according to Florida Politics. That small-business work remained his profession through his years on the County Council and in the Legislature.

Two terms of service on the Volusia County Council

Patterson first won countywide office in the mid-1990s. Volusia County's official list of previous council members shows him holding an at-large seat, elected by voters countywide rather than from a single district, beginning in January 1995. His colleagues chose him as vice chairman in 1996 and chairman in 1997. He resigned in November 1998 to run for the state House, and the governor appointed Dwight D. Lewis to finish the remainder of his term, according to county records.

He returned to county government more than a decade later. County records list him as the District 1 council member beginning in January 2013, first in a two-year term that expired at the end of 2014 and then in a four-year term that ran through Dec. 31, 2018. He served as vice chair in 2015. Barbara Girtman succeeded him in the District 1 seat in January 2019.

A decade in the Florida House

Patterson won the District 26 seat in the Florida House in November 1998. Two years later, in 2000, he lost a reelection bid to Democrat Joyce Cusack of DeLand, who went on to serve in the House through 2008 and later on the County Council herself.

That 2000 defeat came in the same election that drew the nation's attention to Florida's presidential recount. The Daytona Beach News-Journal, in its Nov. 9, 2000, coverage of the uncertain statewide tally, reported that Patterson, R-DeLand, had lost to Cusack.

He reclaimed a seat in the House in November 2002 and was reelected in 2004, 2006 and 2008, serving District 26 until November 2010. During that period the district covered parts of northern Volusia County and southern Flagler County. His service ended after eight consecutive years, the limit set by Florida's term limits, and former Ormond Beach Mayor Fred Costello, also a Republican, won the seat in 2010.

The DeLand-Deltona Beacon previewed his 2008 reelection contest as one in which the economy and the mortgage crisis would be the key talking points, as the housing downturn reached Volusia and Flagler counties. In 2010, Costello won the open seat by defeating Democrat Tim Huth, a former deputy superintendent of Volusia County Schools, 60% to 40%, in a district that then stretched from Ormond Beach to Deltona.

In Tallahassee, Patterson held two committee chairmanships. House Speaker Allan Bense appointed him chairman of the Committee on Community Colleges and Workforce in 2004, and Speaker Marco Rubio named him chairman of the Committee on Ethics and Elections in 2006, according to his biography.

Rivals, then colleagues

Patterson's second run on the County Council put him back alongside the Democrat who had unseated him in 2000. Cusack won the council's at-large seat in November 2010 and served until 2018, according to county records and her biography, meaning the two former House rivals sat on the same seven-member council for six years while Patterson represented District 1. The council during his first term back was led by elected County Chair Jason P. Davis.

Patterson's offices at a glance

His public service spanned more than two decades across county and state government:

Florida Politics described his House service as running from 1999 to 2000 and 2002 to 2010, and his council service as running from 1995 to 1998 and 2012 to 2018, reflecting when he was elected versus when terms formally began.

Family

Patterson and his wife, Anne, raised four children and have seven grandchildren, according to his published biography.

What's next

Under the governor's order, flags at the Capitol, the Volusia County Courthouse and DeLand City Hall returned to full staff at sunset Saturday. Volusia County's District 1 seat, which Patterson held from 2013 to 2018, is now represented by Don Dempsey.