Island Avenue on Belle Isle in Miami Beach will be renamed in honor of Judge Irving Cypen and his wife, Hazel, during a public ceremony Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. at Belle Isle Park.

Miami Beach Commissioner Laura Dominguez and Miami-Dade County District 4 Commissioner Micky Steinberg will lead the ceremony, according to an announcement from the city on X.


The dedication follows recent action by city and county officials to recognize the couple's decades of contributions to Miami Beach and the Jewish community.

City, county recognize Cypen family

On Sept. 1, the Miami-Dade County Commission adopted a resolution changing the honorary designation of a portion of Venetian Way between East San Marino Island and West Rivo Alto Island from "Judge Irving Cypen Way" to "Judge Irving and Hazel Cypen Way."

The county's action followed the Miami Beach City Commission's July 22 approval of Resolution No. 2026-34390, which recognized Hazel Cypen's contributions and supported adding her name to the existing designation.

Irving Cypen earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1940 and a law degree with high honors from the University of Florida in 1943, according to the state's Florida Memory archive.

He served as assistant city attorney for Miami Beach from 1949 to 1953 and as a judge in Florida's 11th Judicial Circuit from 1958 to 1963. He also founded the law firm Cypen & Cypen.

Cypen was the first Jewish person elected to the Dade County Circuit Court, according to the county's 2010 honorary street designation resolution.

The resolution credited him with raising more than $75 million for the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital, including more than $1 million in personal donations.

He died Jan. 30, 2009, at age 90.

Cypen's decades of community service

Hazel Cypen was born in Jacksonville and raised in St. Petersburg as one of nine children. She moved to Miami Beach in 1946 and settled on Di Lido Island in 1959.

She began her involvement with the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital in 1951 and continued supporting the organization until her death June 23, 2020, at age 100.

Known as the "First Lady of Douglas Gardens," she was honored with the dedication of the Hazel Cypen Tower, an assisted living facility at what is now Miami Jewish Health.

The couple married in 1941 and raised five children.

The Oct. 21 street-renaming ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. at Belle Isle Park on Island Avenue. The event is open to the public.