The newest Hometown Heroes banner is mounted right in front of Apopka City Hall on Main Street, and it bears the name of Marv Suriff, a Vietnam War veteran and Apopka resident who died in September.

As part of a brief ceremony at City Hall Friday morning, a city crew mounted Suriff’s banner on a light pole. Afterward, Congressman Daniel Webster, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10147 Post Commander Loretta Forlaw, and Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson each delivered remarks. City Commissioner Nick Nesta was also in attendance.

Suriff’s banner joins dozens of other banners displayed across the city honoring local veterans, with each bearing the individual’s name and military branch of service. This is part of the city’s Hometown Heroes Banner Program, which makes banners honoring local veterans and current military members for public display.

Suriff’s banner brings the total number of Hometown Heroes to 41. These banners will stay on display throughout November in celebration of Veterans Day.

Suriff was remembered for his dedicated community service as a VFW Post 10147 member in various roles. According to a biography that Nelson read, the week before Memorial Day and Veterans Day each year, Suriff was always at the Publix on Hunt Club Boulevard, engaging with people and distributing “Buddy” Poppies, the VFW’s official memorial flower.

Forlaw recalled how while organizing a VFW Veterans Day event at the Hunt Club, the people there were saddened to learn of Suriff’s passing.

“When I went to the Hunt Club to ask them about us being there on the seventh, eighth and ninth of November with the buddy poppies, they were almost in tears because they did not know that he had passed in September,” Forlaw said. “The chaplain has created a memorial recognition for him that will be at the Hunt Club Publix, as we collect for the buddy poppies.”
Suriff served in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam and Thailand. Born and raised in Manhattan, N.Y., and also raised in Levittown, N.Y., he had lived in Central Florida since 1969.

Suriff volunteered to staff the Post 10147 tent at community events, cooked for several VFW events, and managed party and wedding rentals for the VFW Building/Apopka Community Center.

He was also a member of the Apopka Citizens Police Academy Alumni Association and an ambassador for the Apopka Area Chamber of Commerce.

“Suriff will be missed by his fellow veterans and the many people he called friends in Apopka and around the country,” Nelson said.

The city of Apopka annually honors and celebrates its veterans with activities leading up to Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

“The main thing is, we owe the veterans a debt we can never repay,” Webster said in an Apopka Chief interview after the ceremony. “It’s impossible, but events like this help get there, and so this is just a great event, especially to honor Mark, who just passed away, but all of the other 40 people who somehow had a connection with Apopka, and it was good to recognize them, and they do it every year. It’s great.”