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Friends Bid Farewell to Former Sheriff's Spokesman

Robert "Bob" Ferrell

PALM BEACH, FL – Funeral services for former Sheriff’s Major Robert “Bob” Ferrell will be held this afternoon at Boynton Memorial Chapel.

The services will begin at 1 p.m. A burial will follow immediately at South Florida National Cemetery on State Road 7 in suburban Lake Worth.

And a luncheon will be held after the burial at the FOP Lodge 50, 885 62nd Drive north and Belvedere Road.

Bob Ferrell started as a cop in the 1960s, became Boynton’s vice mayor in the 1980s, earned his Screen Actors Guild card on the set of Ace Ventura, Pet Detective and created the real-life role of Palm Beach County Sheriff’s spokesman in the 1990s.

And his friends say it seemed he planned it all with a twinkle in his eye, a cigar in his mouth, leaning up against a fast car in his garage.

Sunday, this larger-than-life character died. He was 64 years old.

Ferrell retired in 2007 as a major after 20 years with the Sheriff’s office, spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

He had battled poor health, including kidney failure, for more than a decade. He died in hospice care in Delray Beach.

“He was a Superman of sorts,” recalled former Boynton Beach Police Chief Tom Dettman, who now heads a department in Sebring.

“This guy has really lived at least three lifetimes. If you think about it, maybe more.”