Formet, Gary 1960  (inducted 3/17/18)

The family of  Gary Formet receiving his Hall of Fame plaque.

Circuit Judge Gary Formet - Class of 1960

     Gary faced the death of his father at 12, the loss of his legs to a land mine in Vietnam, crippling phantom pain in his amputated limbs and two bouts with cancer.
Gary Formet was born in St. Petersburg and raised in Gary, Indiana, and Sarasota. He graduated in 1960 as a member of Riverview’s first graduation class. In 1965, Gary Formet was a Stetson University graduate who opted for an Army career. He performed administrative tasks so well he couldn't get a much-wanted transfer to combat. But spurred by a sense of duty, he nagged until his superiors relented, giving him a platoon and an assignment to scout enemy soldiers near Pleiku, South Vietnam. On July 5, 1967, having just returned to combat after a rest-and-recreation trip to Hawaii with his wife, went back on patrol. While Jane Formet was on her way back to Florida, 1st Lt. Formet stumbled on the trip wire of a hidden land mine near Duc Pho. The blast tore through his legs, shattering them. After a year of recovery and therapy, 1st Lt. Formet walked away from an Army hospital in Georgia with a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and two artificial legs. After leaving the Army, Gary returned to St.Petersburg to study law. In 1971, he graduated from Stetson University College of Law and began practicing in Orlando that year. A member of First Methodist Church of Orlando, Gary was active in many civic activities from Jaycees to Pop Warner football. He also was an avid golfer and a member of the Country Club of Orlando.
   In 1979, he began his judicial career as an Orange County judge, rising to Circuit Court in 1986. He presided over a famous, Kissimmee carjacking-murder trial and parts of the Tommy Zeigler quadruple murder case. Along the way, he won the respect of public defenders and prosecutors. ''Judge Formet was simply one of the most ethical and caring men that I've ever had the privilege of working with,'' Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar said. Orange-Osceola Public Defender Joe DuRocher said, ''There is something that is very hard to define, but all lawyers know it when they see it. It's called judicial temperament, and he is the epitome of that.’'
   Gary Formet kept his attitude positive and transmitted his sense of military honor to his son. 1st Lt. Gary Formet Jr. graduated from the United States Naval Academy and saw action as an aviator in the Persian Gulf War.
   Circuit Judge Gary Formet died December 24, 1996 of cancer at age 54.