JANIE GOULD

In nearly four decades as an attorney and community leader, Alan S. Polackwich Sr. says he’s always adhered to a life structured around working,  so when he contemplated retirement, he became a bit nervous about facing life without schedules or deadlines.

So Polackwich, 62, who is retiring Aug. 2 as county attorney for Indian River County, decided to come up with a plan for retirement activities, some of which will keep structure in his life and others that will be just plain fun.

“Everything I do is going to fall into one of two categories: is it meaningful in some way or is it fun?” he said.

On the fun side are golf, boating, paddleboarding and writing stand-up comedy. .Robin Williams is his favorite comic and “Seinfeld” a TV show he admires greatly for its writing. He says he used to carry a notepad in his pocket and would write down ideas for routines when they came to him. Now he’ll have time for more of that .

“Also on the fun side I want to volunteer as a marshal at some PGA events,” he said.

Polackwich also wants to return to a hobby, definitely in the fun category, that he gave up about 15 years ago: Formula 2000 racing. He bought a race car and raced competitively until two serious crashes, one at West Palm Beach  and the other at Sebring, made him realize “my adrenaline was more powerful than my brain.” He suffered three fractured vertebrae and a broken rib in the first crash and said  doctors told him he should have ended up paralyzed. He wasn’t injured in the second crash, which occurred just a few months after

the first one,  but decided it was time to give up the sport.

Now he plans to get another race car but says he won’t return to competitive racing.

Polackwich’s plans for what he calls meaningful retirement activities include working with nonprofit groups, such as the Nature Conservancy, Amnesty International or ORCA, the locally based Ocean Research and Conservation Association.

“What I hope not do is just be a fundraiser,” he said. “I’d like to get involved in some level  in policy decisions and help convert policy to action.”

He recently rejoined the board of United Way of Indian River County, an organization he’s served for decades. He headed the board of directors, served as co-chairman of the annual fundraising campaign twice  and served as chairman of the board of governors of United Way of Florida.

“I felt attorneys should be involved in community activities and the only way I could convince someone else to do that was to be an example,” he said.

Among many other things, he served for 25 years as chairman of the county’s..Environmental Control Hearing Board, and headed the county’s School Readiness Coalition for five years.

Polackwich and his wife, Deborah,  have been  honored as the county’s Co-Citizens of the Year. He received the Alma Lee Loy Award for long-term service to the community and the Ralph King Award for long-time service to the United Way.

The couple grew up in small towns in Maine and he says Vero Beach is similar to their old hometowns,  except, of course, for the weather.

“I enjoy being in a small town,” he said. ” It  was a great place to raise children. It was a very good fit for us and for the community, I think.”

Polackwich worked in private practice for several years in Maine and then 28 years in Vero. He was executive vice president  and general counsel for Riverside National Bank from 2004 to 2010, when he  became county attorney.  Deborah Polackwich has been an active community volunteer. She also designs and makes jewelry and is a partner in Gallery 14 in downtown Vero Beach.

The couple have two children, Jessica, 37, and Scott, 31.

Jessica is a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia. She was valedictorian at St. Edward’s School.. She graduated from Amherst College in Massachusetts and then graduated magna cum laude from Harvard law school.

Scott was salutatorian when he graduated from St. Edward’s School  a few years after his sister.. He went on to graduate with honors from Johns Hopkins University and then from the University of Florida College of Medicine. Now he’s in a six-year urology program in Portland, Oregon, and plans to settle in the Southeast and specialize in male infertility.

Polackwich is quick to give full credit to his wife for their children’s success.

“Unfortunately, I was always working or busy with community service s so I wasn’t home as much as I should have been,” he said.

Soon, in retirement, visiting their children and grandchildren will be high on Polackwich’s priority list, and definitely in the “fun” category. Later this summer, when  Jessica goes to Cambridge University in England to teach a course, her parents will journey there to take care of  her children.

The Polackwich couple also have bought a condo near their home in Grand Harbor so that visiting family members and friends will have a place to stay and enjoy the nearby Indian River lagoon.

“I’ve told my wife the next ten years will be the best years of our life,” he said.