Former Sarasota Mayor Remembers Paul Reubens

(Sarasota, FL) — A former mayor of the town where actor Paul Reubens grew up, remembers him as a friend and someone who stood up for human rights. Fredd Atkins was Sarasota’s first Black mayor and remembers Reubens as one of the few white students who made friends across the color line.

Atkins says he kept in touch with Reubens through the years, and he and others stuck with him after his 1991 arrest for indecent exposure in an adult theater. The actor best known for playing Pee-wee Herman died Monday at age 70 following a private battle with cancer.