Island poet laureate remembered for work, support of arts
Joseph “Joe” Pacheco, 95, of Sanibel, passed away of natural causes on Feb. 2.
Often regarded as Sanibel’s unofficial poet laureate, he was one of the island’s most famous poets and was also known as “Sanibel Joe.” Pacheo was involved with multiple poetry events on the islands that brought the arts community together, had a weekly column in the Sanibel-Captiva Islander, and more.
“He wrote a prize-winning poem when he was 10 years old and then he didn’t write anymore,” wife Marjorie Pacheco said, adding that he started writing again when they retired and moved to the island.
“He always used the expression, his muse returned,” she noted.
Marjorie Pacheco shared that he became a performance poet because he wrote a lot of rap.
“He loved writing, sharing and performing his poetry,” she said.
Pacheco was born on July 21, 1930, on the Lower East Side of New York City, New York.
“He was the first Nuyorican in the family,” Marjorie Pacheco said, referring to Puerto Ricans born or raised in New York City — a blend of New York and Puerto Rican. “He was pretty proud of that.”
With a long career in education, Pacheco started out as a nursery school teacher before teaching English and Spanish in high school. He served as a junior high assistant principal and principal, later becoming the first Puerto Rican New Yorker to serve as New York City’s district superintendent.
“Almost four decades of working his way up the ladder,” she said.
Pacheco retired in 1988 and became an adjunct professor at Brooklyn College.
“He was waiting for me to retire so we could move down here,” Marjorie Pacheco said.
They first had a unit at the then South Seas Plantation on Captiva.
“That made us fall in love with Southwest Florida and the barrier islands,” she said.
They bought a house on Sanibel and relocated in 1996. Pacheco rediscovered his “muse” and wrote more than 400 poems, many about his childhood growing up as a Nuyorican and life on Sanibel.
“We welcomed every morning we woke up together,” Marjorie Pacheco said. “We just loved each day, being together.”
“The whole thing was an adventure down here — coming from the concrete sidewalks of New York City,” she added. “Our first orange tree, our own fresh oranges. We loved growing our own fruit.”
For over two decades, the Islander published a poetry column of his works called Poetic License. Pacheco’s poems were also featured on NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered,” as well as “Latino USA,” and they appeared in other newspapers, such as the News-Press and Island Sun.
His published books of poetry include “The First of the Nuyoricans: Sailing to Sanibel,” “Alligator in the Sky” and “Sanibel Joe’s Songbook.” Pacheco’s poem “Nor More Heavy Poems” was recently accepted by the literary journal Passage.
“He wrote some poetry about us together,” Marjorie Pacheco said. “One his first poems was ‘Retire with me to Sanibel,’ and then he wrote my reply.”
Among his many activities on Sanibel, Pacheco co-founded ArtPoems with fellow poet Lorraine Walker Williams. A collaboration between local artists and poets, the artists would select a poem to create a piece of art from, and the poets would selected a piece of artwork to create a poem from.
“It was very well received,” she said, adding that it started small, but grew over the years.
Pacheco also organized and hosted the annual Sanibel Poetry Fest.
“April is Poetry Month, so he decided he would have a poetry fest with local poets performing,” Marjorie Pacheco said, noting that it was typically held at the Sanibel Public Library.
Pacheco helped to organize Writers Read, put on by the Sanibel-Captiva Island Writers.
He was a past president for the Southwest Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and a member of the WGCU Advisory Board. Pacheco was also on the board for the Southwest Florida Symphony.
“He loved playing tennis and was a master of drop shots,” she said.
Pacheco was preceded in death by a daughter, Miranda. He is survived by his wife; his daughter and son-in-law, Allegra and Abed; and his grandchildren, Quds, Jaleel, Carmella and Majdal.
A local Celebration of Life is being planned.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to WGCU Public Media.