Heritage Florida News award-winning columnist and Central Florida attorney Mel Pearlman was recently recognized by the Florida Bar Association at its Annual Convention for 50 years of distinctive service to the citizens of Florida as a member of the Florida Bar. Within the same time frame, Pearlman took second-place in the Louis Rapoport Award for Excellence in Commentary category from the American Jewish Press Association for his article in the Heritage titled "Mr. Biden's folly," (May 14, 2021). The award was presented at the 40th Annual Simon Rockower Award program.

Pearlman graduated from the University of Florida Law School in 1972 and after passing the Florida Bar Exam joined a boutique law firm in Winter Park.

He originally came to Florida from New York in January 1966 as a young physicist to work at the Kennedy Space Center on the Gemini and Apollo Space Programs, and was part of the Boeing Company's test team that man-rated the Apollo-Saturn space vehicle for manned exploration of the moon.

After working with the law firm for 20 months, he opened his own office in Winter Park and several years later expanded his practice to several lawyers and paralegals and to larger office facilities in Casselberry.

In 1997, Pearlman and his wife, Susan, along with their two children, Debbie and Will, moved to Celebration, becoming one of the 351 founding families of Celebration. He opened a second law office in Celebration, but now he considers himself "ambiguously retired," living in the same house they built in Celebration more than 25 years ago.

Along the way, Pearlman was and remains very active in community affairs having served in many leadership roles in the Jewish Community from Jewish Federation president, Community Relations Committee chair, Lawyers Division of the UJA and Emergency Israel Fund Charter member, vice chair and pro bono legal counsel for the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida, and Board member of the original Hebrew Day School. He has also served on the District VII Mental Health Board, Central Florida Research and Development Authority, affiliated with the University of Central Florida, and on the Osceola County West 192 Development Authority.

He was one of the first Jewish political candidates to seek public office in Central Florida having run for Attorney General in 1978 and for Congress in 1990.

Although the children have gone off to follow their own respective dreams, the Pearlmans plan to spend their retirement years here in Central Florida; and where he intends to continue writing his "Everywhere" column and being "ambiguously retired," as they enjoy their children and grandchildren along with the ambience, facilities and friendships they have made over these many years.