Palm Beach County has had 16 sheriffs
How many sheriffs has Palm Beach County had in its 100 years? Sixteen.
Some served less than a year, often as interim. Seven led for more than a decade. The longest tenure was recent: Richard Wille served 19 years.
1. George B. Baker, 1909-1920: In their feud, John Ashley would leave a bullet with tellers at bank holdups.
2. Robert C. Baker (above), 1920-1923, 1924-1931: George Baker’s son set up the 1924 stop near Sebastian that ended in Ashley’s death.
3. Edwin Albert Stephenson, 1923: A pioneer builder, he was a pallbearer at Henry Flagler’s funeral.
4. William Hiram Lawrence, 1931-1933, 1934-1941: He also was chief deputy for two decades.
5. Jack S.Willson, 1933: He also was a Palm Beach councilman.
6. Lucian Raymond “Jack” Baker, 1941-1945: The third sheriff in the family, Robert’s brother also was a state attorney and legislator.
7. John F. Kirk, 1945-1960: Credited with hiring the first black deputy. After he was voted out, he was charged with taking bribes from gambling interests but was acquitted. Kirk is pictured above at right, with (from left to right) Tax Collector Stetson O. Sproul, Clerk of Court J. Alex Arnette, lawyer/farmer Edgar G. Hamilton, and County Agent M.U. Mounts.
8. Martin Kellenberger (above), 1961, 1962-1967: Indicted for perjury and suspended, he was cleared and reinstated.
9. Peter Widener, 1961: Interim sheriff for 10 months, he later was on the Palm Beach town council.
10. Clinton E. Taylor, 1962: The former FHP trooper was interim sheriff for only a few months.
11. William Heidtman (above), 1967-1976: He’s credited for modernizing the department but also allegedly disrupted the Woodstock-ish Palm Beach International Music and Arts Festival in 1969.
12. Richard P. Wille, 1977-1995: During his tenure, PBSO went from 500 employees to 3,000.
13. Charles McCutcheon (above, center, with sons Patrick and Michael), 1995-1996: He also was Boca Raton police chief from 1970 to 1980.
14. Bob Neumann (above), 1997-2000: As an FBI agent, he’d worked on Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance.
15. Ed Bieluch (above), 2001-2004: Later became an Anglican priest.
16. Ric L. Bradshaw (above), 2005- : He also was West Palm Beach police chief.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office: www.pbso.org
