BOCA RATON, FL — Dorothy H. Wilken made history twice in Palm Beach County — first as Boca Raton's first female mayor in 1976, then as the first woman elected Clerk of Court in 1992.
Wilken died Monday at 90, according to the Palm Beach County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller's office. She is survived by four daughters and 15 grandchildren.
Her death was announced this week by the Clerk's office, current Palm Beach County Clerk Mike Caruso and the City of Boca Raton, all of whom credited her with shaping local government across decades of public service.
Wilken was born in Pennsylvania in 1936 and moved to Boca Raton in 1965 to work at Florida Atlantic University, according to the Clerk's office. She was elected Boca Raton's first female mayor in 1976, later served six years on the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners representing District 4, and won election as county Clerk in 1992.
She served as Clerk for 12 years before announcing in 2003 that she would not seek re-election.
According to the Clerk's office, Wilken pushed to modernize the office during her tenure, upgrading technology and moving paper records online. Under her leadership, the office received the Governor's Sterling Award, which recognizes top-performing organizations in Florida's public and private sectors.
"Dorothy Wilken was a true force in Palm Beach County, setting a high standard for transparency and accountability in every office she held," Caruso said in a statement. "During her tenure as Clerk from 1992 to 2004, she brought our Clerk's office into the modern era, upgrading technology and pushing to get our paper records online."
At both the city and county level, Wilken focused on growth management and environmental preservation, according to the Clerk's office. She was one of the originators of Citizens for Reasonable Growth, and her work with the Crime Prevention Council is credited with helping coordinate policing efforts across multiple Palm Beach County agencies.
The City of Boca Raton said her leadership "helped shape our city and Palm Beach County" and called her impact one that "continues to be felt today."
Tributes followed on Facebook from former staff, residents and elected officials. Boca Raton City Council member Stacy Sipple, who holds Seat D, called Wilken "a trailblazer" in a comment on the city's post. Former employees described her as a "straight shooter" and recalled her participation in the Clerk's office caroling group, "Circuit Sound." Others called her a dedicated public servant and a role model for women in Palm Beach County government.
Funeral and memorial service details were not included in the announcements from the Clerk's office or the City of Boca Raton.
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