"He will always be The Mayor. There will be no other."

He was simply The Mayor.

"He will always be The Mayor. There will be no other," Apopka Vice Mayor Bill Arrowsmith said Saturday after the death of former Apopka Mayor John Land, his friend and mentor who was thought to be the longest-serving full-time mayor in Florida history.

Land, who turned 94 on Nov. 5, served Apopka as its mayor for 61 years. He died at Florida Hospital Orlando after suffering a stroke on his way home from a banquet Friday where he was honored by peers in Central Florida for his lifetime of public service. He died amid a somber huddle of family and close friends. More at the Orlando Sentinel.

» Earlier, from Florida Trend, read an interview with John Land, Florida's longest-serving mayor.