MIAMI -- Anne Ackerman, the feisty activist who built a national reputation in political circles by organizing condominium dwellers, died Monday at her home. She was 75 and had suffered from cancer for eight years.
Ackerman, the daughter of Russian immigrants, was routinely courted by Democratic presidential candidates because of her ability to get out the vote. Politicians claimed she could command almost 2,000 votes on election day.
Ackerman learned her politics in Chicago, where she worked as a ward organizer for former Mayor Richard J. Daley. She moved to Miami in 1969 with her husband, Irving, now deceased, and soon began organizing condominium residents in her neighborhood.
'She organized the condominiums the same way the wards were organized in Chicago,' said Rep. William Lehman, D-Fla.
She and her group distributed voting slates and then kept track of those who showed up to vote, making sure those who supported her candidates got to the polls.
'Anne was effective because she combined knowledge and energy. She had both in great supply,' said Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla.
She also had moxie. When Graham was governor, Ackerman once told him to show more political leadership or else no one would vote for him.
'I always thought I was pretty outspoken,' she said. 'But it took a lot of chutzpah to say what I said to the governor.'
Ackerman made her mark in south Florida politics by effectively delivering the vote but she also was known for her campaigns for better public transportation, street lighting and a ban on phosphate detergents.
In 1988, a two-mile stretch of Biscayne Boulevard in north Dade was named Anne Ackerman Boulevard in her honor.
Ackerman is survived by a son and two daughters, two brothers, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Services are scheduled for Wednesday at the Beth Torah Congregation on North Miami Beach Boulevard.
