Roy Vrchota, a towing and trucking company owner, died Jan. 31 at a Deerfield Beach retirement home. He was 91.
Mr. Vrchota is the father of Roy Vrchota Jr., director of professional standards committee for the Broward Sheriff’s Office since 2008.
Born in Iowa, Mr. Vrchota served in the Army Air Corps. He was stationed at a training base in Boca Raton in 1945, training to be a fighter pilot, when the war ended.
“Rather than go back to an itty bitty town in Iowa, he stayed here,” said his son, Jon-David Vrchota, of Jupiter.
In 1947, Mr. Vrchota opened a gas station near a fire station at Hillsboro Boulevard and Federal Highway. When there was a fire, he followed the trucks, knowing they would break down, his son said.
The city forced the gas station to close in 11 years later, calling it an “eyesore.”
In 1955, Mr. Vrchota started a trucking company that his family ran for 20 years. The towing service, started in 1951, had contracts from Boca Raton to Pompano Beach. It was sold in 2005.
His son said he was an honest businessman and loving family man.
“You will never find anybody to say anything negative about the guy,” said Jon-David Vrchota. “He always did the right thing when nobody was looking. There won’t be a street sign or a bridge named after him, but the people who knew him thought the world of him.”
Vrchota Jr. was the chief of police in Deerfield Beach when the department merged with the Sheriff’s Office in 1990. He was the assistant inspector general for the Sheriff’s Office internal affairs unit until he raised concerns about a raid that resulted in the death of a deputy. He was transferred out of his job after he voiced concerns and later retired. Vrchota has also testified in the investigation into false confessions and crime statistics at the agency.
Mr. Vrchota was pre-deceased by his first wife, Lillian. In addition to his sons Jon-David and Roy Jr., he is survived by his wife Inge, of Deerfield Beach; son Kurt Vrchota, of North Carolina; five grandchildren; six great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.
There will be no services.
