Bill Pacetti, the manager of Publix Super Market at Old Cutler Town Center in Cutler Bay, was honored with a Certificate of Appreciation on Mar. 4, presented by Miami-Dade County District 8 Commissioner Katy Sorenson and her fellow commissioners.
During the special ceremony in the Commission Chambers, Pacetti’s wife, Brenda, and son, Tony, also were present, as were other family members and friends. Also attending were Cutler Bay Councilmember Peggy Bell; Jeff West and William Meiklejohn, president of the Cutler Bay Business Association.
Commissioner Sorenson addressed Pacetti and everyone assembled in the chamber as she handed him the document.
“As commissioner and on behalf of the mayor, the board of county commissioners and the residents of Miami-Dade County, I take great pleasure in presenting this certificate of appreciation to you in recognition of your valuable contributions to our community,” Sorenson said.
The certificate was signed by Commissioners Sorenson and Dennis Moss, and Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez.
Bill, whose full name is William A. Pacetti III, has been a Publix manager for 18 years and has been with the company for more than 38 years, being hired as a bag boy in 1971.
Publix, through Publix Charities, is the prime sponsor of the July 4 Fireworks at Black Point Marina each year, one of the few remaining fireworks shows in Miami- Dade County. That enables the PBSA and Commissioner Sorenson to provide the fireworks.
Pacetti has been supporting many community events and organizations over the years, including fundraising for local Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, community baseball and football teams, Cutler Ridge Presbyterian Church, St. Faith’s Episcopal Church, the PTAs of Gulfstream Elementary, Whigham Elementary, Whispering Pines Elementary, Cutler Ridge Elementary, Richmond Middle, Centennial Middle, Coral Reef High School and the policing units of Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay.
He is on the board of the Palmetto Bay Cultural Council, Pinecrest Police Department Citizen Oral Board and the Breakers Homeowner Association Board. Pacetti works with the March of Dimes Annual Walk, United Way and Feed the Hungry.
“Bill, with the full support of Publix, has provided generously to many events in the community,” Meiklejohn said. “He has reached out to many needy individuals and organizations throughout the years at Thanksgiving and Christmas, and other times. Publix has a policy of giving back to the community and Bill is an excellent steward of this corporate program.”
Pacetti’s family has been making a difference in South Florida for many years.
His father, Dr. William A. Pacetti Jr., was a well-known pediatrician in the Miami area, and his mother, Rosa Wells Pacetti, RN, was a head nurse in the ICU at Jackson Memorial Hospital. His grandfather, William A. Pacetti Sr., was a Miami business entrepreneur who opened a pharmacy in downtown Miami that was known at the time as Byron’s Red Cross and later became Jackson Byron’s.
Pacetti was married for 30 years to his first wife and high school sweetheart, Cynthia Carole Starling, whom he lost to breast cancer in 2003.
In addition to his son, Tony, 30, Pacetti has two other sons, Joseph Robert Pacetti, 27, and William A. Pacetti IV, 17, and a step-son, Brandon Phillip Garcia, 15.
