Ronald Andrew Erbel Obituary

A Life of Service

Ronald Andrew Erbel, (70) of Key Biscayne, FL lived a life full of service and sacrifice before passing away at his home on the Island of Key Biscayne, surrounded by family and friends on April 9, 2022.

Ron was born on April 12, 1951, in Pittsburgh, PA as “Baby Boy Erbel”. His father relocated to Miami, FL in the early 60’s with United Airlines. Ron attended Palmetto High School, where he played trombone in the school band and was proud to be a Ridge Rat. He was also proud to be named a Sweetheart by the Palmetto Chatonette Girls and he later married his own high school sweetheart, Susan Ruth Erbel (Calhoun) in 1971. They ran off to North Carolina where they spent some time building a cabin and growing their own food on a mountainside, but ultimately the sunshine called them back to South Florida.

Ron graduated from Miami Dade Community College with a degree in agriculture. His love for nature and plants coincided with the first business he started when he bought an old blue school bus and converted it to sell potted plants from. He named it The Pot Mobile. Eventually, he expanded his business to include full landscape and maintenance service and rebranded as the Good Earth Landscape Company.

Ron was always looking for bargains and would find homes he could rent in exchange for making improvements and renovations. In doing this he learned some architectural techniques and developed a keen eye for landscape architecture as well. In 1979 Ron was awarded a landscape architect job that provided enough money for a downpayment on his first home; a humble Mackle house on the 700 block of Curtiswood Drive where he settled in with his wife, Sue, and raised their 4 children who were proud to be Key Rats.

The Good Earth serviced many of the homes, hotels, and businesses on Key Biscayne including the Sonesta and Key Biscayne Hotel. When Ron was not designing the villages landscape, one could often spot him high up in a coconut tree with a chainsaw trimming the large palm branches unreachable by bucket trucks. The Miami Seaquarium was one of his favorite places to spend a day's work up in the trees keeping guests safe from large branches that otherwise might fall without warning.

If Ron was not in a tree, he could be found at the seawall behind Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church fishing where he enjoyed the silence of the ocean after a long day. Or he might have been seen at the Donut Gallery or Oasis in the early morning for a café con leche before laboring in the Key Biscayne sun. If it was the 4th of July Ron would be leading the Key Biscayne parade in a Studebaker or an antique firetruck full of his kids and grandkids. This yearly tradition brought Ron’s love for family and community perfectly together.

Ron could also be found doing charitable work. He and his first wife worked with troubled youth and fostered teenagers with The Good Shepherd, an organization that placed pregnant teenagers in safe environments. Ron and Sue had an open-door policy in their home when it came to people in need. Ron was a deacon at the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church for many years and later he served as Chaplain of the Fire Department, providing spiritual and personal counseling to members of one of the most demanding and dangerous professions. Firefighters witness more death and destruction in mere moments, than most people see in a lifetime. Ron was also the Chaplain for Save Our Sisters, an organization that offers active and health-giving opportunities to breast cancer survivors, of which his second wife, Victoria, was not only a member but also the team president. He joined the Key Biscayne Community Church in his later years and served there in various capacities.

Ron was a natural barterer and tradesman which served his hobby of collecting and restoring antique cars well. He bought his first Model T when he was 14 years old. Ron had a passion for Studebakers and restored his beloved Avanti and Transtar Truck back to their prime condition. This passion served well in his later years when he labored over and guided the restoration of Key Biscayne’s first Fire Truck from 1936 and then donated it back to the Island. Ron was active with the Key Biscayne Historical Society and enjoyed restoring, remembering, and honoring the Island’s history.

When Ron was just 27 years old, he called the Volunteer Fire Department to come to his home where his wife was in labor. Without any time to get to a hospital Ron was forced into assisting the volunteers with the birth of his own child. The excitement and adrenaline in those moments cultivated a desire for Ron himself to get involved with the volunteer department. He trained, joined, and immediately fell in love with serving the residents of Key Biscayne in this capacity. The volunteer fire department fostered Ron’s passion for community and service.

After nearly 20 years as a volunteer, Ron went back to school at the age of 45 so that he could have all necessary credentials when the town incorporated into the Village of Key Biscayne. In 1998 he joined his hometown Fire Department as a fulltime firefighter and paramedic. He was in the first group of wmployed firemen and women on the Island, and he served with them full time for more than 25 additional years.

Ron served with compassion and grace and made himself available to all community members, whether in or out of uniform, and no matter the crisis. Some said he had a knack for always being in the right place at the right time. Ron saved many lives in the midst of different kinds of crises with no judgment, only a helping hand. Ron had a keen sense when something wasn’t right and by listening to his intuition he helped many people. He was a true hero to the villagers of Key Biscayne. Ron retired at the age of 68 when his desire to travel with his wife and enjoy time with his family won over. However, he said he would never stop working, and continued to serve as an advocate to ensure state laws were passed to protect the health of his fellow firefighters.

During Ron’s time with the Fire Department he joined the Florida Task Force 2 FEMA group. This highly trained and specialized search and rescue team was deployed to New York City following the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on the Twin Towers. Ron returned home with his team after 17 days. As much of the country was changed forever, so was Ron and his team, having experienced the unimaginable.
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Ron was a true entrepreneur and was always entertaining new business ideas. On one of his many trips to purchase plants for the Good Earth in his earlier years, he stopped in to check on the widow of his late friend in Homestead. She implored him to take the bees of her husband who had been a beekeeper. Feeling inspired to continue his friend's legacy, Ron brought home his first beehives in 1981 and dedicated himself to this newfound hobby. The following year, his 5-year-old son, lugged a red Radio Flyer wagon filled to the brim with the rich dark mangrove honey that Key Bee is famous for, selling it door to door on the island and Key Bee Honey was established.

Ron often brought home animals he rescued from the trees he was trimming, often parakeets, but he never turned away swarms of bees. With over 40 hives in various locations on the Island, Ron and his second wife, Victoria began a cottage style business selling the famous dark Key Bee Honey from an old phone booth on their Fernwood Rd. porch. Working with his bees became a source of solace for Ron after retirement and fueled his love for both nature and community. As neighbors came to purchase honey from his porch they would end up staying for conversation.

Another business Ron started back in the 90's, just like the bees, went on to survive many decades. He felt that lavish events and movies filmed in Miami could benefit from a paramedic on sight in case of an emergency as well as a consultant for fire-safety. He founded the ReelMedic Company and was launched into attendance of many events with the rich and famous, such as movie sets like Miami Vice, 21 Jump Street, Sisqó’s Thong Song video, Band of the Hand, There's Something About Mary, and many of the Wendy’s commercials. Ron enjoyed being around Dave Thomas, who became a friend, but his favorite place to be a medic were the crowded weekends at the Miami Seaquarium.

Ron particularly enjoyed bringing memorabilia home from the movie sets when filming ended. There were ropes that were used for a pig roast from Band of the Hand that rested high up in the front yard mango tree as a makeshift treehouse for his children and their friends. He collected many unusual items, not only from movie sets, but from all over the Island. He had Key Biscayne’s original phone booths that he saved from salvage, along with an old scale and a jukebox he displayed on his front porch on Curtiswood that later made its way to his Fernwood Rd. home. Four carousel horses from the old zoo he obtained for each of his children along with an old claw foot tub decorated his backyard. He often lived by the mantra that one man’s trash was another man’s treasure.

Ron and his first wife Sue divorced in 2001 and Ron fell in love again and married Victoria Jackson in 2012. Victoria and Ron’s shared love for social activities, traveling together, and building community bonded them right away. They began traveling the world together as well as building their community at home on the Island. No matter what lavish trip or adventure they took, Ron always said, his favorite place was being home on Key Biscayne, surrounded with family and friends. Ron and Victoria could be spotted buzzing around the Key together in their yellow and black stripped golf carts. When Ron’s cancer set in, caused by the exposures in New York during the 9-11 aftermath, some 20 years after the tragic event, his wife Victoria stayed by his side and cared for him with admiration.

Ron had many nicknames given to him over the years, such as Captain America, which was fitting as he was a boat captain. He was called Superman, and MacGyver as he was a hero and could fix almost anything. He was referred to as the Mayor of Key Biscayne, even though he never held office, and Chief, even though he was not the chief. His favorite nickname to be called, however, was Papi. He was loved and adored by his 10 grandkids, and he loved them deeply and wholeheartedly.

Ron is preceded in death by his father Andrew (Andy) Erbel, who passed away 22 years earlier, also on April 9, which did not go unnoticed, his mother, Doris Virginia Erbel (Galliford), and, his son, Joshua Luke Erbel, who was laid to rest at just 38 years old, with much sorrow, and only 6 months prior to Ron.

On the day Ron passed away, a white dove visited and perched on a tree branch outside his window. The cool air from the evening breeze blew softly through the open window to his room and his brotherhood from the fire station stood watch on his front porch. His wife and daughter placed their palm on his chest with its last rise, while his lifelong friend, Ed Hays, stood to salute him. Amazing Grace with bagpipes played in the background here on Earth, while the heavenly angels' voices carried him Onward. His time of death was 9:11pm which left those who witnessed his passing in awe, as Ron’s battle from the type of cancer that took his life was caused by harmful exposures during his service in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks on our country.

Ron is survived by his son, Jesse Shawn Erbel (Natalie), and his two daughters, Jennifer Rebekah Hardison (Paul) and Ashley Janessa Sue Sumon (Nobab); his 10 grandchildren, Tatiana Sage Hall (26), Lucia Marcella Hardison (13), Elon River Erbel (13), Lochman Thomas Hardison (11), Oliviana Grace Hardison (11), Shiloh Muhammad Nobab Sumon (10), Malcolm Forest Erbel (10), Axel Andrew Hardison (9), Oliver Muhammad Ronald Sumon (8) and Aurora Sumaya Sunflower Sumon (7), his first wife of 30 years Susan Ruth Erbel, and his second wife of 10 years, Victoria Lynn Jackson; his eldest brother and sister, Dave Ralph Erbel (Kathy) and Adele Lee Fredenberg (Ron), and his younger sister, Lanette Erbel Ulrich.

Ron would want you to know that he considered his life a privilege, even with the hardships he faced in his lifetime, especially his battle with cancer, at the end. He would often state with absolute certainty that his journey and his life, was a privilege given to him by God. He looked to God for strength and used his faith to teach others that God is good all the time, no matter the circumstance. He would want you to know he never felt that he worked a day in his life, because he enjoyed what he did. He was most at peace knowing his community and family members could depend on him, even in his final moments. He filled his life with building community through his own sacrifices and service, and he was certain his legacy would be passed down through his children, his grandchildren and his wife. He cherished them deeply.
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"Create your legacy, and pass the baton." - Billie Jean King

​Ron’s Memorial Service was held on May 7th, 2022, at 5:30pm at the Key Biscayne Community Church. Ron was given a Line of Duty Death (LODD) ceremony and received Full Honors with recognition of his achievements and sacrifices.
The Memorial Service can be found HERE

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The family requests donations to be made to The Ron Erbel Scholarship Fund, which was set up by Ron for anyone who has served with the Key Biscayne Fire Department for 15 years or longer and for their children and grandchildren. ​