Photos for Headline Surfer / New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker is shown with her late husband, Guy Mariande, four years ago at a community fundraiser in the former Brannon Center. Mariande, a boating enthusiast as shown in the larger contributed display image, had battled cancer.NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. -- Guy Mariande, husband of New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker, often a fixture at her municipal meetings and an avid boater, died from cancer on Monday, June 6, 2016. He was 75.
Mariande often sat in the front row and took pictures of his wife on the dais at New Smyrna Beach City Hall, from as far back as 2009 when she first took office.
That's when Reiker made her foray into municipal politics, defeating incumbent Randy Richenberg for a four-year term on the dais, which was extended an additional year when she and the other four elected leaders opted to go to even-year elections.
Reiker was seated for a second term in 2014 when nobody sought qualifying papers to run against her.
Mariande and Reiker, who were married 28 years ago, moved from Atlanta to New Smyrna Beach in 2001 and settled into the Bouchelle Island condominiums off of the South Causeway Bridge.
Headline Surfer® photos / Guy Mariande, who died Monday of cancer at age 75, is shown far left at a community fundraiser in 2014, at the Brannon Center in New Smyrna Beach. In the center, Mariande and his wife, New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner Judy Reiker, attend a 2010 function for Sea Scouts.
Soon thereafter, Mariande became chairman of the Marine Discovery Center, just west of the smaller North Causeway Bridge, where he helped launch a private water taxi service that ferried tourists and locals to and from Ponce Inlet.
Mariande, who enjoyed being on the water, earned Eagle Scout honors with the local Sea Scouts, followed by several years in the Coast Guard Reserve where he was a merchant marine officer and master of vessels up to 100 gross tons. He also was a member of the New Smyrna Beach Coast Guard Auxiliary.
He and Reiker enjoyed sailing the Atlantic waters on their 35-foot Beneteau sailboat, "Island Time."
But the fun in the sun became more of the exception to the rule with Mariande stricken with cancer in recent months, leading to his death Monday at Halifax Health Hospital in Daytona Beach.
New Smyrna Beach Mayor Jim Hathaway offered prayers for Reiker on her husband's passing when called for comment earlier this evening.
"It's a sad day for New Smyrna Beach and a sad day for Commissioner Judy Reiker," Hathaway told Headline Surfer®.
But the fun in the sun became more of the exception to the rule after Mariande was stricken with cancer in recent months, leading to his death Monday at Halifax Health Hospital in Daytona Beach.
New Smyrna Beach Mayor Jim Hathaway, shown in this NSB News image (precursor to Headline Surfer®) at a workshop meeting back in 2011, when he was a fellow commissioner, offered prayers for Reiker on her husband's passing when called for comment earlier this evening.
"It's a sad day for New Smyrna Beach and a sad day for Commissioner Judy Reiker," Hathaway told Headline Surfer®.
Mariande was president and owner of Cooperative Printing Solutions, an international software development company he started out of his kitchen.
Besides his wife, Judy Reiker, Mariande is survived by a grandson, Jordan Mariande.
Funeral Services: Guy Mariande: Jan. 2, 1941 - June 6, 2016
Guy Andrew Mariande, 75, of New Smyrna Beach, passed into eternal life with Our Lord on Monday, June 6, 2016. He was born in New Orleans, the son of Louis and Lorraine Mariande, who preceded him in death as did his son, Darren Mariande. Visitation will be held at Baldwin Brothers Funeral Home of New Smyrna Beach, 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, June 9. A celebration of Life Mass will be held 4 p.m. Friday, June 10, at Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church, New Smyrna Beach. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to BSA/Sea Scouts, P.O. Box 11345, Daytona Beach, FL 32114.