On a chilly, but sunny Saturday in early November 2019, Mike Boyce was visiting with veterans on Old Canton Road at United Military Care, a non-profit that helps veterans in need.
The occasion was a barbecue luncheon to observe Veterans Day, and a few dozen people turned out for hamburgers, hot dogs and the sounds of a local band playing 1960s pop songs that resonated with memories of the Vietnam War.
The group was the Tunnel Rats, and as Boyce took a seat next to mine in the sun, he told me over the music, “I’ve got their CDs.”
A retired Marine colonel, Boyce was too young to suit up for that conflict, but his 30 years in the Corps shaped what became for him a life of service in uniform and beyond.
On this occasion, he wasn’t glad-handing or politicking as Mike Boyce, Cobb Commission Chairman, but as a veteran himself, and a private citizen appreciative of the service and sacrifices of others.
He was as approachable and interested in hearing from his fellow veterans as he was during the many town hall and other public meetings he conducted during his four years in office, even from citizens furious when he proposed a property tax increase.
For Boyce, serving in public office was no different than the military. After he lost his re-election bid in 2020, he participated in a leadership program at his alma mater, the University of Notre Dame.
That’s where he was two weeks ago when he suffered two strokes. In announcing his death on Tuesday at the age of 72, his wife Judy Boyce said he was “having the time of his life,” mentoring students, riding his bicycle around the inviting Notre Dame campus (I’ve been there, and it’s fantastic) and starting a new chapter in his life.
Like many in Cobb County, I was shocked to hear the news. Judy Boyce said in a message that her husband’s strokes were “unrecoverable.”
A funeral Mass for Boyce will take place next Thursday, Feb. 3, at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in South Bend, Ind., starting at 9:30 a.m. It may be live-streamed and updates will be posted here.
A memorial service also is scheduled for Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. at Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church (4385 Lower Roswell Road), where Boyce was a member.
When he left office, Boyce remained high-energy, vigorous and spirited.
That’s how he approached the job he inherited from Tim Lee, whom he defeated as chairman in 2016, campaigning against his predecessor’s handling of the Atlanta Braves stadium deal.
Boyce ran a true grassroots campaign, dutifully knocking on doors and spending plenty of time around the county, and not just his base in East Cobb. He was vastly outspent and didn’t have the county’s business and political leadership behind him, but he prevailed.
It was a slog, as were many of the budget town halls and other public meetings he conducted during an eventful four years in public office. But his Marine persona was unmistakeable.
As he liked to say about some of those political conflicts, “I’ve been through a lot worse.”
After taking plenty of flack at the East Cobb Senior Center at a budget town hall meeting, Boyce didn’t pack up his presentation materials and quickly scuttle away. Instead, he stuck around to hear citizens agitated about their taxes going up.
As much as he let them sound off, Boyce never backed away from what he said was the necessity of passing a “restoration budget,” one that provided additional funding for parks and libraries, among other things, for Cobb to remain “a five-star county.”
There also was the Mike Boyce who had some gruff Great Santini moments.
During a budget retreat, weary that commissioners weren’t signing on to the tax hike, he blurted out “I get it. You don’t want to stick your neck out. But this isn’t hard. It’s $30 million in an economy of billions. You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
In the end, he got the third vote he needed. Commissioner Bob Weatherford, a Republican who provided it, was promptly voted out of office.
The Cobb Republican Party, which never warmed up to Boyce, spoke out against the increase.
So did former Commissioner Thea Powell, an East Cobb Republican whom Boyce had appointed to the Cobb Planning Commission.
Not long after calling the proposed tax increase “a dog’s breakfast,” she was summarily replaced.
Boyce said he did so because of some of her votes on zoning issues, but in her final remarks, she alleged she was booted for speaking out as a citizen.
The “Tax Hike Mike” moniker was born as the political winds in Cobb County were changing.
In 2018, Democrats even made headway in Republican East Cobb, snaring a Congressional and a school board seat.
Boyce often mentioned how the job of chairman was much more than he ever imagined, but as he decided on running for re-election, I asked him: “Are you up for this?”
Without hesitation, he said “Yes.”
I saw him at other community events, including occasionally slipping in at an East Cobb Business Association luncheon when a zoning meeting ended early.
Boyce wasn’t always there to make a public speech, but was hobnobbing with the locals.
At heart, I think Mike Boyce was a citizen-servant who never saw himself as a professional politician.
One of Boyce’s finest moments in public office came in November 2020, shortly after he had been defeated by commissioner Lisa Cupid.
Amid the partisan bickering over Georgia’s voting in the presidential election, Boyce offered “a transition in grace,” saying that “we acknowledge the voice of the people, we hear them and we move on.”
That was the guiding spirit that prompted Boyce to get into public office, and that’s how he left it.
While his family grieves and our community mourns, we should consider ourselves grateful for his commitment to service, and the example he set.
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