Naples council member resigns after husband’s death

Naples City Council member Linda Penniman resigned this week after her husband’s death, saying she needed to tend to personal matters. 

In all, she’d served more than seven years on Council, including as vice mayor and chair of the Community Redevelopment Agency. 

“It is with profound regret that I feel I must resign my current position as a council member as of today, Sept. 29, 2026,” Penniman wrote to City Manager Gary Young, City Clerk Pat Rambosk and City Attorney Matthew McConnell. “With my husband’s passing, it will be incumbent upon me to address myself fully to personal matters. Thanks to all of you for the superior work that you provide for the citizens of Naples.” 

After nearly five years, Penniman first resigned her position in January 2019 due to her husband Nick’s declining health but was able to return in April 2024 after elections a month earlier. Nicholas Penniman IV, who died Sept. 29 at Avow Hospice, retired in 1999 as publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and was a former board chair of Conservancy of Southwest Florida. 

“It’s very sad and the city will miss a leader who cared about all the people in our city,” Mayor Teresa Heitmann said. “Her commitment to the environment was always at the forefront of her decision making. Her leadership, character, integrity and dedication to the city was a major inspiration to me.” 

Council will discuss filling Penniman’s seat at its Oct. 7 meeting. Under city ordinances, mayor and council vacancies are filled in a special election for the unexpired term called by the city clerk after a resolution is adopted by Council and held within 60 days — unless the vacancy occurs within one year of a general election. In that case, a vacancy may be filled by Council until the next election. The last city election was in March, so Council has the ability to fill the seat. 

City officials declined to comment on the process, saying it will be discussed at next week’s meeting. Terry Hutchison, the former vice mayor who termed out after eight years, told former council members he’s interested in the seat. Hutchison did not return a call for comment. 

Penniman first won election in February 2014, served as vice mayor from 2016 to 2018 and was reelected in 2018 as the top vote-getter in a four-way race for three seats. She resigned in January 2019 to care for her husband. 

In 2024, Penniman ran again and was elected in a heated six-way race for three council seats that ended in a recount; the mayor also was reelected in a three-way race. After a contentious 2024 election marked by negative campaigning and disputed claims by political action groups, Nicholas Penniman published Gutter Politics: City of Naples 2024, an account of what he viewed as dirty politics in the race. 

Linda Penniman’s interest in government began with land-use issues after many Old Florida-style homes were razed in Naples and replaced with McMansions. She also pushed for affordable housing and ethics reform and focused on environmental issues. 

Before serving on Council, she was on the city Planning Advisory Board and the county Coastal Advisory Committee, chaired Collier County Waterkeeper, served on the Moorings Property Owners Association board and a task force for Conservancy of Southwest Florida, and worked closely with Ethics Naples to push for a city ethics commission. It was established after August 2020, when voters approved a city charter amendment in a referendum. Penniman also served on numerous boards and is a former chair of WGCU Public Media’s Advisory Board. 

She was recognized as a Woman of Initiative by Collier Community Foundation in 2015. She and her husband received Conservancy of Southwest Florida’s highest honor, the Eagle Award, in 2020 for their work on environmental issues. The award is presented to people and organizations that provide outstanding leadership on environmental causes, shepherd philanthropic initiatives and participate in grassroots activism. 

“Linda and I do what we do not for the recognition, but because of the work that needs to be done,” Nick Penniman said at the time. “This award was truly special to us because it was given to us jointly, recognizing the work that we do together. There’s no other place in the region where you have as many environmental issues to address. We truly believe Conservancy is the most effective organization in the country as their work is urgently important to the development of Southwest Florida. It’s a great honor and very satisfying for us to be involved.” 

The couple moved to Naples in the 1990s after visiting for two decades. They were married 57 years. Nicholas Penniman spent many years on Conservancy’s board of directors, including as board chair from 1995 to 1997. He led the two-year Saving Southwest Florida campaign to build the Conservancy campus and served on the county Coastal Advisory Committee and Environmental Advisory Committee. 

Nicholas Penniman also published Nature’s Steward: A History of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and A Toxic Inconvenience: Red Tide and Blue-Green Algae on Florida’s Coast.