Longboat Key Mayor Jack Duncan resigns shortly after heart surgery

Longboat Key Mayor Jack Duncan, recovering from a quadruple bypass, has resigned as District 2 commissioner.

The 67-year-old Duncan addressed his resignation letter dated Dec. 1 to Vice Mayor Terry Gans and the Longboat Key Town Commission.

“Due to significant short- and long-term recuperative health concerns expressed by my personal physicians, and because my term limitation will expire March 20, I feel this action takes into account the best interests of Longboat Key as well as my own personal wellbeing,” Duncan wrote.

Duncan’s wife, Debbie, said the mayor’s doctors recommended this move in his convalescence. She said she has mixed emotions about her husband taking such a momentous step but firmly supports the action.

“I’m relieved he’s OK and his health is going to be on the mend,” Debbie Duncan said. “I also thinks it’s the smart thing for him to do and for the town. I support his decision.”

Duncan was hospitalized for less than a week after a quadruple bypass heart procedure Nov. 18. He returned home in time for Thanksgiving weekend.

Vice Mayor Terry Gans will lead the next Town Commission meeting at 7 p.m. Dec. 5.

Duncan, a retired marketing executive, moved to Longboat Key in 2002. He is term-limited and was to end a six-year run on the town commission in March. He will be succeeded in the District 2 seat by George Spoll, who is unopposed on the official March 14 ballot.

Exhibiting his typical sense of low-key humor, Duncan closed his resignation note with thanks to all on Longboat who supported him over the past six years.

“I can only say ‘the HONOR’ has been all mine,” Duncan said.