ANNA MARIA ISLAND – Anna Maria Island lost a colorful character and a marine-loving soul with the recent passing of George “Captain George” Glaser.
After battling numerous non-COVID-related health issues, Glaser, 78, passed away at his Bradenton home on Nov. 13. Glaser’s family is planning a celebration of life early next summer after a grandson returns from overseas military duty.
Glaser was born in the New York, N.Y., area in 1943 and grew up in greater Buffalo, with many friends and family members in the Niagara Falls area as well.
Glaser earned a Bronze Star while serving as a Navy medic in Vietnam and then spent 17 years working as a respiratory therapist and providing other medical services in North Carolina. After moving to Manatee County in 1989, he served as a respiratory therapist at Manatee Memorial Hospital.
After leaving the medical profession, Glaser started The Mystic Dolphin charter cruise business, which originally operated out of Catcher’s Marina in Holmes Beach. He began his charter business with a pontoon boat named Mystic Dolphin, which he later replaced with a Regal 26-foot Leisure Cat, also named Mystic Dolphin.
Captain George remembered
Longtime Anna Maria Island resident Dee Brady frequently boated with Glaser.
“George and I were boating buddies for over 20 years aboard his boat, my boat or both. He was a one-of-a-kind, great soul. He owned and operated the Mystic Dolphin, doing sightseeing and dolphin-watch tours. I believe he was one of the first, if not the first, in Anna Maria to provide that service,” Brady said.
Anna Maria resident and local musician Howie Banfield was a longtime friend of Glaser’s.
“He called his scooter ‘Chopper.’ He was such a bad speller his girlfriend would send back his letters with corrections made in red ink. He was sent to a school for wayward boys and got his knuckles whacked by the same nun who whacked the knuckles of Anna Maria Rocks owner Bill Arthur. He was truly a colorful friend,” Banfield said.
Local musician Larry Stokes said, “My wife and I have lived here on the Island for 15-20 years. There used to be a different character and a different charm on the Island. I’m not complaining, but this used to be a really different place back then. The thing that made it different were the characters like George, Dee Brady, Howie Banfield and some of the others that gave the Island a certain charm. It’s sad when we lose guys like George.”
Anna Maria resident Carl Augostini, a retired electrical engineer, was Glaser’s neighbor when George lived on Spring Avenue in Anna Maria.
“We’ve been friends for many years. We were neighbors for many years. I helped George with electrical problems on his boat, in his house, in his garage, with his speakers … whenever he had an electrical problem, he’d call me. I’m really going to miss the guy. We spent a lot of time chatting in the garage while I was working on bikes (to give away during the holidays),” Augostini said.
Lorraine Pierce was George’s neighbor in the Coral Shores community in west Bradenton.
“George was ‘Captain George’ through and through. He loved the water. He loved his boat. He loved music and beauty and motion. One of the things I appreciated most about George was that he wanted to get to know you. He wanted to have a real discussion. George was uniquely George. I never had a relationship like that before, where I was so at ease disagreeing with somebody,” she said.
“Some older people don’t make friends later in life. I met George about four years ago and we became good friends. He was a gentleman on borrowed time from the time we met. I want to thank Hana Kim and Vikkie Ramirez, who were his aides at the end. They weren’t just caregivers; they were genuine friends. They were true companions. They brought joy to his life. George was all about motion and when he lost some of his mobility, they helped him stay in the game until the very end, despite his limitations,” Pierce said.
From clients to friends
Former Island residents Jim and Sue Peterfeso met Glaser while vacationing from Minnesota before they bought their Bradenton Beach condo in 2004.
“The first time we chartered with him was in 1998. He took us out to Egmont Key. The water was a little rough, but my father talked him into it. We thought he would drop us off at the beach so we could walk around but he made us jump into the thigh-high water instead,” Jim said.
“For many years, George lived in his parents’ old house on Spring Avenue. In the old days, when he kept his boat at Catcher’s Marina, he got around on his little 50cc motor scooter. He’d ride his scooter to the Anna Maria City Pier and drink beer and hang out with the locals and the visitors,” Jim said.
“He was one of the first cruise operators, back when Anna Maria Island was a sleepy little hamlet,” Sue added.
“His life was centered around boating and spending time on the water. George loved taking kids out on his boat. He would have them drive the boat – including our granddaughter, Taylor. George developed what he called ‘aqua scopes.’ He cut out the bottoms of five-gallon plastic buckets and replaced them with plexiglass. When he took people out to the sandbars near Passage Key and Egmont Key, they could push these aqua scopes down into the water and see all the sea life. He also kept masks and snorkels on the boat. Showing the sea life to his customers was his passion,” Jim said.
“He would talk people out of taking live shells and sand dollars. If they were alive, he’d ask them to put them back. We would collect them and store them on the boat to give customers,” Jim said.
“His Christmas tree was decorated with sand dollars. Every ornament was a sand dollar. George would ask his friends to paint and decorate them and every ornament was unique,” Sue said.
“George liked to visit the local waterside restaurants by boat and for some of our longer excursions, we’d go further north to John’s Pass, Pass-a-Grille or the restaurants on the St. Petersburg pier. He really knew how to handle that catamaran in bad weather because he’d take it out in bad weather to get that experience,” Jim said.
“He loved reading books about the age of exploration: Captain Cook, Magellan and ‘In the Heart of the Sea’ – the true story about Moby Dick. Sometimes he’d take his boat out and drop anchor and sit there and read,” Sue said.
“George also loved all things Superman. He had several Superman shirts, hats and he even had a homemade a Superman blanket that he was very proud of,” Jim said.
