Captain Ken Sorensen passed away on July 6, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Diane, two daughters, Susan and Holly and two sons, Matt and John plus several grandchildren. Another son, Mark, predeceased Ken by exactly 8 years.
Ken was a native of Chicago and began his Eastern Airlines career on October 8, 1962. Although they lived in Coral Gables during his early years at Eastern, he, Diane and family moved to Key Largo in the late 1960s.
He was appointed to the Monroe County Planning and Zoning Board and then elected to the County Commission where he served from 1980 to 1984 including 2 years as county mayor. He was elected to the Florida House of Representatives representing District 120 where he served from 1998 until he was term-limited out in 2006. He was a powerful senior member of Mark Rubio's staff when Rubio was elected Florida House Speaker in 2006. Rubio hired Ken to work with him during his successful run for U.S. Senator in 2010.
He received a Ph. D in Political Science and Humanities from the University of Zagreb in 1993. He was on the faculty of Florida State University in the College of Social Science, Political Science and was the Director of Development for International Studies for the past 17 years.
Ken was 77 years old.
