Joseph Bondi, Father of Pam Bondi, Dies

(updated at 12:40 p.m.)
Joseph Bondi, the father of Attorney General Pam Bondi, has died after a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 76.

My beautiful Daddy went to Heaven yesterday, Pam Bondi posted on her Facebook page this morning.

He was surrounded by all his family. He fought a great fight with Leukemia. Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We are so heartbroken but comforted to know he is with our Lord. Please continue to pray for my family during this most difficult time in our lives.

Joseph Bondi was a former Temple Terrace councilman, serving as mayor from 1974 to 1978.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Patsy Bondi, daughters, Pam Bondi (Greg Henderson) and Beth Bondi McIntyre (Rich McIntyre), and son, Brad Bondi (Tandy). He is also survived by his sister, Frances Bondi Glenn, and her husband, William Glenn, and six loving grandchildren -- Jake Schaffer, Emma and Evan McIntyre, Rex Bondi, Brad Bondi Jr. and Rhea Bondi.

A Navy Veteran, Joseph Bondi earned a bachelors, masters and doctorate degree from the University of Florida and became a pioneer in the middle school movement, helping to organize one of the first five middle schools in the nation.

He was the author of over twenty-five leading educational textbooks and was a partner in the international education consulting firm of Wiles, Bondi and Associates, working in all fifty states and twenty foreign countries.

During his career, Dr. Bondi served as a teacher, school administrator, and college professor.

In lieu of flowers, the attorney general's office asks friends may make contributions at Metropolitan Ministries.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, January 20, 2013 at 2 p.m. at Christ Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, located at 304 Druid Hills Road, Temple Terrace, Fla. 33617