Arlene Adams Schuyler

and William Adams. She attended school in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, and then studied art at Pratt Institute in New York City. She later attended the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria.

In 1955, she married Army Capt. Francis “Frank” Schuyler of Miami. The couple moved to Munich, Germany, in 1959, where they eventually adopted their son and daughter, said Mrs. Schuyler’s son, Cortlandt.

Cortlandt and his sister, Victoria, spent much of their youth hopscotching around Europe as a result of their father’s military career. They lived for different periods in Munich; Naples, Italy; Nice, France; the Alps of Switzerland, and in San Francisco before settling in Boca

Marjorie Louise Altier

BOCA RATON — Marjorie Louise Altier died in the early morning of Feb. 17 at the age of 94.

She was born in Pennsylvania on Dec. 19, 1928, and graduated from West Pittston High School. She married Joseph Altier in 1954 and they had three sons. In 1961, the Altier family moved to Florida and opened Boca Raton’s very first jewelry store, Altier Jewelers.

For over 50 years, Marge and Joe ran their business side by side in the growing town of Boca Raton. Mrs. Altier served clients of every level, and Altier Jewelers became a cornerstone within Boca Raton’s community with a reputation of honesty and trust.

Mrs. Altier dedicated her life to her husband, her family and her business. She loved to dance the nights away with Joe at the Boca Raton resort, and greatly enjoyed their travels to Europe, Asia and Africa.

Mrs. Altier was preceded in death by her husband, Joseph, and her son William. Mrs. Altier’s name and legacy will continue to live on through her sons Alex (Debra) and Joe, eight grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, brother Kenneth Howell, sister Jean Renfer, and her cherished dog, Princess.

A funeral Mass was celebrated on Feb. 25 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Boca Raton. Entombment followed at the Boca Raton Mausoleum.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to the George Snow Scholarship Fund at scholarship.org.

— Obituary submitted by the family

Raton in 1971.

Mrs. Schuyler was preceded in death by her husband, who died of a heart attack on Feb. 13, 1998.

Arlene Schuyler was an early advocate of using native plants in landscaping and wrote and illustrated a paperback, Wildflowers — South Florida Natives, which was published in January 1982. She sold the books for $8 apiece, her son recalled.

“The book was beautiful,” he said.

Cortlandt Schuyler remembered his mother as a free spirit who supported the feminist movement, encouraged childhood entrepreneurship and took chances for adventure, like the time she went out of her way to meet Picasso.

Cortlandt said he was 5 years old when his mother and her friend drove him and his sister to Picasso’s home in Nice. They parked their old Volkswagen on a hill and walked up to his house, hoping to get in. They did.

“My sister and I sat in the back of this old VW they had and they went down and visited his home,” Cortlandt said. “Somehow they got in. I think he had something going on down at his house.”

He recalled his mother as a staunch supporter of his childhood money-making endeavors that included everything from reselling candy bars from the drugstore on the school bus, to delivering newspapers or working at a local hotel.

“When I was a little tiny kid she would double whatever I would earn. When it got to like $50 she had to stop,” her son recalled.

“She was very, very wellspoken, very, very educated. A big reader,” Cortlandt said. He said she enjoyed nature shows on TV, educational channels, watercolor painting and always books, books, books.

“She loved her independence and liked doing her own thing,” her son said.

Burial will be at Arlington National Cemetery, alongside her husband. She is survived by her two children and four grandchildren: Molly, Serena, Kyle and Celia. Glick Family Funeral Home in Boca Raton handled arrangements.

By Mary Hladky

With a five-story residential project on East Royal Palm Road facing intense opposition from neighbors, the City Council has delayed a vote on whether to approve it and asked the developer and project opponents to try to iron out their differences.

They will have two months to do so before the council considers the project again on May 8.

“I hope this is productive and we are not just kicking the can down the road,” said Deputy Mayor Andrea O’Rourke, who will be term-limited out of office this month.

33 Royal Palm LLC has proposed a five-story, four-unit luxury condo that would be built between the nine-story 327 Royal Palm condos and a nine-story assisted living facility now under construction.

Each condo, with about 4,300 square feet, would occupy an entire floor and would have a rooftop terrace. Eight of 10 parking spaces would be in a ground-floor mechanized garage that, for each condo, would lower one car below ground so that a second car could park on top.

The project has been approved by the Community Appearance Board and the Planning and Zoning Board. City staff said it met all requirements for building in the downtown and recommended council approval.

But residents of 327 Royal Palm, who have formed Neighbors for Thoughtful Boca Development and hired an attorney, turned out in force for a Feb. 27 Community Redevelopment Agency meeting.

Among their many objections, they said the 0.17-acre, former single-family home site is too small for the project. They contended it is not compatible with the neighborhood and violated their privacy rights by being too close to their building. They also asserted that a rooftop generator would cause noise pollution and expressed concern about where residents would park if the garage malfunctioned.

Project attorney Ele Zachariades said the developer would be willing to enclose the rooftop equipment to reduce noise, but otherwise said the project met all city requirements.

Noting that the building would be shorter and smaller than neighboring buildings, she said 327 Royal Palm is the one that is “out of character” for the neighborhood.

But faced with the deluge of complaints, the council delayed its decision in hopes a compromise would materialize.

In other business, the council approved a resolution requested by O’Rourke, a strong proponent of the arts, that gives an additional designation of “Avenue of the Arts” to a section of Northeast Fifth Street between Federal Highway and Mizner Boulevard in Mizner Park. Adding that name to the street will cost less than $500.

The additional name is intended to reflect the original vision for Mizner Park as a cultural mecca, as well as its current clustering of arts venues including the Boca Raton Museum of Art, the amphitheater, the Studio at Mizner Park and the proposed Center for Arts & Innovation performing arts complex.

• With long-serving City Manager Leif Ahnell retiring next year, the city has begun the process of finding his replacement.

City staff is developing a request for proposals from recruiting firms, and expects to select a firm this summer to conduct a nationwide search. Council members will make the final selection.

Ahnell ascended to the city’s top job in 1999 after serving for nine years in other positions.

Council members have been fretting about Ahnell’s looming departure for years. The current and previous councils have held him in high regard and have consistently given him high marks in annual evaluations.

Council member Monica Mayotte floated the idea of selecting Deputy City Manager George Brown to replace Ahnell at a Feb. 13 meeting, citing his institutional knowledge and experience.

“I think George is our heir apparent,” she said. “I think we ought to give him the opportunity to take the helm when Mr. Ahnell retires.”

Brown declined to comment on whether he would accept the promotion. As of late February, Mayotte said she had not spoken to Brown directly about the matter, and other council members have not commented on the idea.

• Two therapists who challenged a nowrepealed city ordinance that banned the highly controversial use of conversion therapy on minors have accepted the city’s offer to in effect settle the litigation. The city will pay Robert Otto of Boca Raton $50,000 and Julie Hamilton of Palm Beach Gardens $25,000 and a portion of their costs and attorney’s fees. The amount of those costs and fees still must be decided. That is expected to end the litigation.

The city made its offer in January after a threejudge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the ordinance violated the therapists’ free speech rights and the full court declined to reconsider that decision. The therapists accepted on Feb. 9.

The therapists’ challenge to a similar and also repealed Palm Beach County ordinance was still being litigated as of late February. Ú